LaChanze

LaChanze
LaChanze in 2006
Born	Rhonda LaChanze Sapp (1961-12-16) December 16, 1961 St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.
Other names	LaChanze Sapp, La Chanze Sapp-Gooding, R. Lachanze Sapp
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer
Years active	1988–present
Spouse(s)	Calvin J. Gooding (1998-2001)

Rhonda LaChanze Sapp, known professionally as LaChanze (/ləʃɑnz/; born December 16, 1961) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical in 2006 for her role in The Color Purple.^[1][2]

Life

Born Rhonda LaChanze Sapp in St. Augustine, Florida to parents Walter and Rosalie, her stage name "LaChanze" (Creole: the charmed one), is taken from her grandmother. LaChanze's childhood love of singing and dancing caused her mother to enroll her in the Bowen Peters Cultural Arts Center in New Haven. It is there that she first discovered her love for performing. At Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, LaChanze made her debut as Lola in Damn Yankees.

Living in Connecticut in such close proximity to New York City gave LaChanze access to the world of theatre. The first theatre production LaChanze ever saw was the musical Chicago (musical). Graciela Daniele was cast in the production and many years later Ms. Daniele continued to have a lasting impact on LaChanze's professional development as a performer. While she greatly enjoyed the dance world, LaChanze often felt limited and had the frequent urge to stop dancing and belt out a dramatic tune or to erupt into an intense monologue.

After high school, LaChanze studied Drama at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD before transferring to The University of the Arts (Philadelphia) (UArts) where she studied Theatre and Dance. Her first summer job was as a tap dancer in the ensemble of Uptown... It's Hot! at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City. The show soon moved on to Broadway where LaChanze began her professional career in theatre.

On September 11, 2001, while LaChanze was eight months pregnant with her second child, her husband, securities trader Calvin Gooding, was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was at working at Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower One of the World Trade Center. On September 6, 2002, she sang the National Anthem at a joint meeting of Congress in Federal Hall, the first meeting of Congress in New York since 1790.^[3][4]

Career

She played the role of "Ti Moune" in the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical Once on This Island in 1990 and received nominations for the Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Musical.^[5][6]

She was a replacement "Sarah" in the Ahrens and Flaherty and Terrence McNally Broadway musical Ragtime, starting in December 1998.^[7]

She played the role of "Viveca" in the Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway production of the musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, which opened in June 2000.^[8] She received a Drama Desk nomination, Actress (Musical), for her performance.^[9]

LaChanze participated in an Actors Fund of America benefit concert of Funny Girl, with many performers portraying the character of "Fanny Brice", in September 2002.^[10]

In 2005 she played a runaway slave in the Ahrens and Flaherty musical Dessa Rose. The musical opened Off-Broadway at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center in March 2005.^[11] LaChanze received an Obie Award for Performance for Dessa Rose.^[12][13]

LaChanze appeared as "Celie" in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, from its opening in 2005 to November 2006.^[14][15]

In September 2008 she participated in the Boston Pops concert, Handel's Messiah Rocks at Emerson College. The performance was filmed by Public Broadcasting Service.^[16]

She was in the Off-Broadway production of Inked Baby, written by Christina Anderson, which opened in March 2009 at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater.^[17]

In June and July 2009, she played the role of "Glinda" in the City Center Encores! staged Summer Stars concert production of The Wiz.^[18]

Stage

• If/Then (2013)^[19]
• The Wiz (2009)
• Inked Baby (2009)
• The Color Purple (2005)
• Dessa Rose (2005)
• Baby (musical) (2004)
• Once on This Island (2002)
• Funny Girl (2002)
• The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000)
• Ragtime (1998)
• Company (1995)
• Once on This Island (1990)
• Dreamgirls (1987)
• Uptown...It's Hot! (1986)

Filmography

Sources: The New York Times;^[20] TCM^[21]

• The Cosby Show (1988) (TV)
• Leap of Faith (1992)
• For Love or Money (1993)
• The Cosby Mysteries (1994) (TV)
• New York Undercover (1996) (TV)
• David Searching (1997)
• Hercules (1997)
• Sex and the City (1999) (TV)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000, 2008) (TV)
• Lucy (2003)
• Breaking Upwards (2009)
• The Help (2011)
• Side Effects (2013)

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1991 Theatre World Award - Once on This Island
• 2005 Obie Award for Performance - Dessa Rose
• 2006 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical - The Color Purple
• 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence On Camera: Programming – Performer - Handel's Messiah Rocks

Nominations

• 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Once on This Island
• 1991 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Once on This Island
• 2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin
• 2005 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Dessa Rose

References

External links

• LaChanze at the Internet Broadway Database
• LaChanze at the Internet Movie Database
• The Color Purple at the Internet Broadway Database
• LaChanze - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org