Chandra Wilson
plays Dr Miranda Bailey
For her critically-acclaimed role of Dr. Miranda Bailey on
"Grey's Anatomy," Chandra Wilson earned an Actor® (Screen
Actors Guild Award) for Best Actress in a Drama Series, an
Actor® for Best Drama Series Ensemble, a Peoples' Choice Award
and three NAACP Image Awards. She is also a five-time Emmy nominee
and a BET Award nominee.
This Houston, Texas native began performing in musicals at the age
of five with Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS), where she appeared in
more than ten of their major musical productions.
At Houston's Ensemble Theatre she portrayed Li'l Bits in "One
Monkey Don't Stop No Show" and, in the summer of 2005, received
their Rising Star honor for her accomplishments.
She graduated from Houston's High School for the Performing and
Visual Arts, and later went on to acquire her BFA in Drama from
NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. There she spent four years training
at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.
Wilson's greatest New York stage accomplishment thus far is her
portrayal of Bonna Willis in the production of "The Good Times are
Killing Me," by Lynda Barry, both at the Second Stage and Minetta
Lane Theatres, which won her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding
Debut Performance.
In the Spring of 2004 she was selected by The New York Times as one
of "8 to Watch, Onstage and Behind the Scenes."
This honor came in conjunction with the Broadway opening of
"Caroline, or Change," written by Tony Kushner, composed by Jeanine
Tesori and directed by George C. Wolfe, in which she portrayed
Dotty Moffett opposite the formidable Tonya Pinkins at the Eugene
O'Neill Theatre.
She was also in the Broadway productions of "Avenue Q" and "On the
Town."
Other stage credits include "Caroline, or Change" at the Public
Theatre, "The Miracle Worker" at Charlotte Repertory Theatre,
"Paper Moon: The Musical" at The Papermill Playhouse, "The Family
of Mann" by Theresa Rebeck at the Second Stage Theatre, "Believing"
for the Young Playwright's Festival at Playwrights Horizons and
"Little Shop of Horrors" at Falmouth Playhouse.
She returned to Broadway for a successful run as Mama Morton in
"Chicago."
Wilson recently starred in "Accidental Friendship" for the
Hallmark Channel, in which she played a homeless woman who is
befriended by a Los Angeles police officer.
Other television credits include series regular Claudia Hopper on
ABC's "Bob Patterson," along with numerous guest appearances on
"The Sopranos," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special
Victims Unit," "Sex and the City," "Third Watch," "100 Centre
Street," "Cosby" and "The Cosby Show."
In addition she has had recurring roles on "One Life to Live" and
"Queens Supreme."
On the big screen she's had supporting roles in the films "Lone
Star," directed by John Sayles, and "Philadelphia," directed by
Jonathan Demme.
Next, she joins Halle Berry, Stellan SkarsgRrd, Matt Frewer and
Phylicia Rashad in the film "Frankie and Alice."
