Andr De Shields

American actor, singer, director, dancer, acclaimed novelist, choreographer, and college professor. He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Achievement for his performance in the 1982 NBC broadcast of Ain't Misbehavin'. In 2019, he received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown on his third nomination. De Shields graduated from the Baltimore City College high school. He then attended Wilmington College where he starred in a well-received production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. After transferring colleges, De Shields received his BA degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After Wisconsin, he earned a Master of Arts from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he serves as an Adjunct Professor. De Shields' choreographed Bette Midler's concert at the end of 1973, though it was panned by the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He had a singing role in the 1974 musical Das Rheingold. In 1975, De Shields was cast in the title role of The Wiz. De Shields' has many regional theatre credits and has appeared on television in Another World, Cosby, Sex and the City, Great Performances, and Law & Order. Link to Wikipedia biography