Shanice Williams (born July 9, 1996) is an American actress and singer best known for her performance as Dorothy in the televised live performance of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' The Wiz Live!'' in December 2015.

Biography

She grew up in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...

. Her mother, Andrea Holmes, is a postal worker; and her father, Shelton Williams, is a security guard. Her cousin, Willis Williams, is an independent professional wrestler known as Ali Shabazz. She attended Rahway High School, where she performed as part of her school's drama program. Williams studied briefly at the

American Musical and Dramatic Academy The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) is a private conservatory for the performing arts located in New York City and Los Angeles, California. The conservatory offers both Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and two-year certificates in prof ...

in Los Angeles, but began her singing career in her grandfather's choir. Her first major break was playing the role of Dorothy in '' The Wiz Live!'', a televised program based on the 1975 Tony award-winning, Broadway theatrical production, ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'', which reinvented American author L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

'' as an African-American story. Williams was selected for the role through an open casting call when she was 18 years old. The production is a collaboration between the

broadcast network and the theatrical division of

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 ...

. In 2017 Williams starred in the award-winning HBO

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

''Manic''. For her role in this film, she won best actress in a

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

at the

New York Television Festival The New York Television Festival (NYTVF) is a yearly festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often mark ...

and best actress in a drama at SeriesFest. In 2018 Williams made her

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

stage and

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

debut in ''Little Rock'', a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

about the

Little Rock Nine The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering ...

. A year later, Williams was cast in the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

production of ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' as Little Red Ridinghood, alongside Broadway stars

Sutton Foster Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Di ...

, Cheyenne Jackson,

Sierra Boggess Sierra Marjory Boggess (; born May 20, 1982) is an American theater actress and singer. She is best known for originating the role of Ariel in ''The Little Mermaid'' on Broadway, and for her multiple appearances as Christine Daaé in ''The Phan ...

, Patina Miller and guest-starring

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

, which ran July 26–28.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Shanice 1996 births American television actresses 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers Actresses from New Jersey 21st-century African-American women singers African-American actresses Place of birth missing (living people) People from Rahway, New Jersey Rahway High School alumni Living people 21st-century American women singers