TP
Tonya Pinkins
Actor, Director, Writer, Producer, Additional CreditsBorn May 30, 1962 (62 years)
Tonya Pinkins was born in Chicago, Illinois. She has four children. Her father was a police officer and insurance salesman and her mother is a former postal worker. She has two brothers, Eric Swoope and Thomas Swoope and a sister Tamera Swoope from whom she is estranged. She was interested in the arts from a young age. In high school, she studied acting at the Goodman Theatre Young People's Program. Aged 18, she briefly attended college and decided to pursue an acting career instead. She later returned to college, earning an undergraduate degree from Columbia College in Chicago, followed by graduate work at Carnegie Mellon's music theater program, and a year at California Western School of Law in San Diego.
Pinkins is probably most admired for her stage work. She won a Tony Award for her performance as Sweet Anita in Jelly's Last Jam. She was nominated for her roles in Play On! and in Caroline, or Change, where she played the title role. Her additional Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The Wild Party, House of Flowers, Radio Golf, A Time To Kill and Holler If Ya Hear Me.
Pinkins has performed in several Off Broadway productions, including the comic role of Mopsa, the Shepherdess, in The Winter's Tale produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company at The Shakespeare Center in 1983.
In 2011, Pinkins starred in the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar at La Jolla Playhouse, and received a 2012 Craig Noel nomination for Best featured Actress in a Play. She reprised her role in the Playwrights Horizons in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and garnered a 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.
In 2012 Pinkins starred in Katori Hall's play Hurt Village, the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project made its world-premiere at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company as part of the theatre's inaugural season. The play also Marsha Stephanie Blake, Ron Cephas Jones, Saycon Sengbloh, Lloyd Watts, Charlie Hudson III, Nicholas Christopher, Corey Hawkins, Ron Cephas Jones and Joaquina Kalukango.
In 2014, Pinkins appeared in New Federal Theatre's revival of Ed Bullins' The Fabulous Miss Marie opposite Roscoe Orman; in the Broadway production of Holler If Ya Hear Me; and the world premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' War at Yale Repertory.
She has also had a prolific television career making guest appearances on such television shows as Army Wives, 24, Law & Order, The Cosby Show, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, and The Guardian among others. During the mid-1980s Pinkins created the role of Heather Dalton on the CBS soap, As the World Turns. In 1991 she was cast as Livia Frye in All My Children. Pinkins left All My Children in 1995 but returned to her role in 2003. She was later put on contract with the show from March 2004 until June 2006, when she was downgraded to recurring status. She has played Amala Motobo on the popular television show 24. She has appeared in several films in supporting roles, including Newlyweeds, Home, Fading Gigolo opposite Woody Allen, Enchanted, Premium, Romance & Cigarettes, Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom and Above the Rim among others.
Pinkins is probably most admired for her stage work. She won a Tony Award for her performance as Sweet Anita in Jelly's Last Jam. She was nominated for her roles in Play On! and in Caroline, or Change, where she played the title role. Her additional Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The Wild Party, House of Flowers, Radio Golf, A Time To Kill and Holler If Ya Hear Me.
Pinkins has performed in several Off Broadway productions, including the comic role of Mopsa, the Shepherdess, in The Winter's Tale produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company at The Shakespeare Center in 1983.
In 2011, Pinkins starred in the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar at La Jolla Playhouse, and received a 2012 Craig Noel nomination for Best featured Actress in a Play. She reprised her role in the Playwrights Horizons in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and garnered a 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.
In 2012 Pinkins starred in Katori Hall's play Hurt Village, the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project made its world-premiere at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company as part of the theatre's inaugural season. The play also Marsha Stephanie Blake, Ron Cephas Jones, Saycon Sengbloh, Lloyd Watts, Charlie Hudson III, Nicholas Christopher, Corey Hawkins, Ron Cephas Jones and Joaquina Kalukango.
In 2014, Pinkins appeared in New Federal Theatre's revival of Ed Bullins' The Fabulous Miss Marie opposite Roscoe Orman; in the Broadway production of Holler If Ya Hear Me; and the world premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' War at Yale Repertory.
She has also had a prolific television career making guest appearances on such television shows as Army Wives, 24, Law & Order, The Cosby Show, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, and The Guardian among others. During the mid-1980s Pinkins created the role of Heather Dalton on the CBS soap, As the World Turns. In 1991 she was cast as Livia Frye in All My Children. Pinkins left All My Children in 1995 but returned to her role in 2003. She was later put on contract with the show from March 2004 until June 2006, when she was downgraded to recurring status. She has played Amala Motobo on the popular television show 24. She has appeared in several films in supporting roles, including Newlyweeds, Home, Fading Gigolo opposite Woody Allen, Enchanted, Premium, Romance & Cigarettes, Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom and Above the Rim among others.
Filmography
| 2025 | The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide · as Horror Film Expert |
| 2024 | TANGO · as Vivian |
| 2023 | Goosebumps (2023) (TV Series) · as Patti |
| 2022 | The Life of Peter Gottlieb · as Dean Fendleman |
| 2022 | East New York (TV Series) · as Shirley Haywood |
| 2022 | Women of the Movement (TV Series) · as Alma |
| 2021 | The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler (TV Series) · as Narradora |
| 2021 | Run the World (TV Series) · as Gwen Greene |
| 2021 | Red Pill · as Cassandra |
| 2020 | The Surrogate · as Karen Weatherston-Harris |
| 2020 | Katy Keene (TV Series) · as Busker |
| 2019 | Tyler Perry's Sistas (TV Series) · as Ms. Marie Willis |
| 2019 | The Artist's Wife · as Liza Caldwell |
| 2019 | Wu-Tang: An American Saga (TV Series) · as Burgess |
| 2018 | God Friended Me (TV Series) · as Marsha |
| 2018 | Random Acts of Flyness (TV Series) · as Ripa The Reaper |
| 2018 | Write When You Get Work · as Roberta Simmons |
| 2017 | Aardvark · as Abigail |
| 2017 | My Days of Mercy · as Agatha |
| 2017 | The Book of Henry · as Principal Wilder |
| 2016 | Bull (2016) (TV Series) · as Judge Maynard |
| 2016 | Collective: Unconscious · as Ripa The Reaper |
| 2016 | 11.22.63 (TV Series) · as Mia Mimi Corcoran |
| 2015 | Fear the Walking Dead (TV Series) · as Martha |
| 2015 | For Justice · as Marian Horn |
| 2014 | NCIS: New Orleans (TV Series) · as Julie |
| 2014 | Gotham (TV Series) · as Ethel Peabody |
| 2014 | Madam Secretary (TV Series) · as Susan Thompson |
| 2014 | The Strain (TV Series) · as Francis |
| 2013 | Home · as Esmin |
| 2013 | Hostages (US) (TV Series) · as Beth Nix |
| 2013 | Newlyweeds · as Patrice |
| 2013 | Fading Gigolo · as Othella |
| 2012 | Elementary (TV Series) · as Judge Marilyn Whitfield |
| 2012 | Scandal (2012) (TV Series) · as Sandra |
| 2009 | Nurse Jackie (TV Series) · as Charlane |
| 2008 | Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom · as Mrs. Robinson |
| 2007 | Enchanted · as Phoebe Banks |
| 2007 | Army Wives (TV Series) · as Viola Crawford |
| 2006 | Premium · as Marva |
| 2005 | Sleeper Cell (TV Series) · as Anita Al-Sayeed |
| 2005 | Criminal Minds (TV Series) · as Det. Nora Bennett |
| 2005 | Romance & Cigarettes · as Female Medic |
| 2005 | The Closer (TV Series) · as Donna Taft |
| 2005 | Black in the 80s (TV Series) |
| 2004 | Unfabulous (TV Series) · as Ms. Best |
| 2003 | Cold Case (TV Series) · as Dina Miller |
| 2002 | Love Hurts · as Auntie V |
| 2001 | 24 (TV Series) |
| 2001 | The Guardian (TV Series) |
| 1995 | University Hospital (TV Series) |
| 1994 | Against Their Will · as Sondra |
| 1994 | Above the Rim · as Mailika |
| 1993 | Strapped · as A.t.f. Officer |
| 1990 | Law & Order (TV Series) · as Woman |
| 1989 | See No Evil, Hear No Evil · as Leslie |
| 1986 | |
| 1986 | Rage of Angels: The Story Continues · as Sharon |
| 1986 | Crime Story (TV Series) · as Junkie Prostitute |
| 1984 | The Cosby Show (TV Series) · as Iris |
| 1984 | Beat Street · as Angela |
| 1970 | All My Children (TV Series) |
| 1956 | As The World Turns (TV Series) · as Heather Dalton |
| 1952 | Guiding Light (TV Series) · as Alanon Woman 2 |