Soara-Joye Ross

**Soara-Joye Ross**, previously known as **Joy Ross**, **Joye Ross**, **Joy E. T. Ross**, and also known as Soara-Joyce Ross (because of her name being misspelled) is an American actress and singer.

## Career

Ross' Broadway acting credits include *Les Misérables the Revival* and *Dance of the Vampires*, where she made her Broadway debut.

Ross starred in the Off-Broadway productions of *Single Black Female* at the Playwrights Horizons theater and then The Duke on 42nd Street theater. She performed in *Dessa Rose* at the Lincoln Center, where she was the second cover for La Chanze when she wasn't playing the role of Annabel. Ross also did *Jerry Springer: The Opera* at Carnegie Hall, and was in "The Tin Pan Alley Rag" at the Laura Pels Theatre with The Roundabout Theatre Company as a cover for the roles of Treemonisha and Monisha, where she performed the role Monisha.

Ross has performed overseas as a soloist in the popular European show *Palazzo Colombino*, done a tour of *Ain't Misbehavin'* playing the role of "Charlayne" and *Smokey Joe's Café*, where she was a swing for the roles "B.J.", "Patti" and "Brenda", and a U.S. tour of *Smokey Joe's Cafe* with Gladys Knight. Ms. Ross played the role of "Mama Lila" in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival where she worked with Donna McKechnie and won the "Best of Fest" Outstanding Individual Performance Award in the show written by Allan Harris entitled *Cross That River*.

Regionally she has been in *Aida* (Aida) at The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, where she was nominated By the Colorado Guild: Outstanding Performance by and Actress in a musical, *Tick Tick Boom* (Susan) at the Alliance Theater, *From the Mississippi Delta*, *Ragtime* (Sarah) at Gateway Playhouse and Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, *Ain't Misbehavin'* (Armelia) at The Huntington Theatre Company and *Once On This Island* (Asaka/Andrea) at Sacramento Music Circus and The Bay Street Theatre/Mill Mountain Theater.

Ross has done numerous readings and workshops and also appeared in the feature film *Garden State* as the Handi-World Cashier.

In 2006, Ross started a support group called "OFF-STAGE" for actors, singers and other performances to help them deal with the entertainment business.

In 2018, Soara-Joye Ross was featured in the cast of CARMEN JONES at the Classic Stage in New York. The New York Times reviewer, Ben Brantley, praised her performance as Frankie, who sings, “Beat Out Dat Rhythm.” Brantley wrote: "The soloist here is the marvelous Soara-Joye Ross as Frankie, and for the duration of the song, she is the life force incarnate, exultant and undeniable. There may be tragedy just around the corner, but for the immediate now, human existence seems like a blessed gift. Frankie concludes the song proclaiming there “ain’t but one big heart for the whole world,” and for those few radiant minutes, you actually believe her.

## Personal background

Ross was born in Queens, New York. She was adopted by Rita T. Ross (now Rita Soares) and Joseph Ross at a very young age. In 2005 Ross reunited with her birth mother Lavonne Patterson. Upon finding her mother, she reunited with her paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather and years later her birth father Orick Sweetwine.

Ross attended Nassau Community College majoring in Vocal Performance. However, after doing musical theater work at Nassau, Ross transferred for her second year of college to The American Musical and Dramatic Academy with a scholarship. After completing the Academy program, Ross began working professionally in theater. However, since Ross wasn't getting the roles she wanted, she attended J. Beckson Studio in New York to continue learning the Meisner Technique for acting. At this point, her acting career began to flourish.

In September 2007, Ross was in rehearsals for a show in New York and after weeks of not feeling well was hospitalized the day before opening night where she was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic. In 2010 she became a member of the not-for-profit organization ACT1 Diabetes. Since then she's been extremely active in the organization as Co-Facilitator for the Young Women with Diabetes Support Group and Donations Coordinator for the Supply Exchange Program.

Ross now resides in Brooklyn, New York with her Pomeranian, Lyric. She is working with other artists on a new musical written by Jay Kuo. Ross is also working on a solo piece about her own life.

Ross is a member of the Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actor's Guild.