Tracie Thoms Biography

Fast Facts

• While attending Howard University, received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Musical for her role in a production of Hair
• Made her Broadway debut in 2004, opposite Alfre Woodard in Drowning Crow
• Unsuccessfully auditioned eight times for a role in the Broadway musical Rent; eventually won the role of Joanne in the 2005 film version, and went on to appear in the final Broadway performances of the show
• Final audition for Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse Presents: Death Proof (2007) was done as a team alongside her friend Rosario Dawson; both actors landed parts in the film
• Has been a series regular on the short-lived As If and Wonderfalls, as well as CBS' hit Cold Case
• Appeared in Chris Rock's 2009 documentary Good Hair, discussing her choice to wear her hair natural
• Was part of the rotating cast of the revue For the Record: Baz Luhrmann at Los Angeles club Show at Barre in 2011