LaChanze

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LaChanze in 2006, performing a song from the Broadway musical The Color Purple
LaChanze in 2006, performing a song from the Broadway musical The Color Purple

LaChanze (born Rhonda LaChanze Sapp on 16 December 1961) is a Tony Award-winning African-American actress, singer, and dancer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

LaChanze has also been credited as La Chanze Sapp, LaChanze Sapp, La Chanze Sapp-Gooding, R. Lachanze Sapp, and Rhonda Sapp.

LaChanze was born in St. Augustine, Florida to teenage parents from working class families. Her middle name LaChanze--- her grandmother's-- means "one who is charmed" in Creole. Her father was in the Coast Guard and her mother is Rose Hines. LaChanze's childhood love of singing and dancing caused Rose to enroll in the Bowen Peters Cultural Arts Center, in New Haven, CT. It is there that she first discovered her love for performing. At Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, CT LaChanze made her debut as Lola in Damn Yankees musical.

Living in Connecticut in such close proximity to New York City gave LaChanze access to information about the wonderful world of theatre. LaChanze's first theatre production she ever saw was "Chicago." Graciela Daniels was cast in this production and many years later Ms. Daniels continues 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 remembers the frequent urge to stop dancing and belt out a dramatic tune or to erupt into an intense monologue.

After high school, LaChanze attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she majored in theatre dance,voice, and acting. 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 theatre career.

On September 11, 2001, while she was 8 months pregnant with her second child, her husband, Calvin Gooding, a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. With Gooding she has daughters Celia Rose and Zaya LaChanze.

LaChanze remarried to artist Derek Fordjour on 30 July 2005 and has a stepson Langston through him.

[edit] Career

LaChanze is the winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple.

[edit] Notable Television appearances

[edit] Notable Movie appearances

[edit] Broadway appearances

[edit] Awards & nominations

Awards
Preceded by
Victoria Clark
for The Light in the Piazza		 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical
2006
for The Color Purple		 Succeeded by
Christine Ebersole
for Grey Gardens

[edit] External links

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