Audra McDonald Net Worth – 2023

Audra McDonald Net Worth:

$8 Million

How much is Audra McDonald Net worth?

American actress and singer Audra McDonald has a net worth of $8 million. McDonald has featured in several Broadway shows, including “Carousel” (1994–1995), “Ragtime” (1998), “A Raisin In The Sun” (2004), and “Porgy And Bess.” McDonald has received six Tony Awards and is one of the most famous actresses in the history of the theater (2012).

As of this writing, she has won more Tony Awards than any other actor and is the only person to have won in four distinct acting categories. Audra has participated on more over a dozen cast recordings and published the albums “Way Back to Paradise” (1998), “How Glory Goes” (2000), “Happy Songs” (2002), “Build a Bridge” (2006), “Go Back Home” (2013), and “Sing Happy” (2018). She has over 40 film and television credits, including “Beauty and the Beast” (2017), “Respect” (2021), “The Bedford Diaries” (2006), “Private Practice” (2007–2013), and “The Good Fight” (2018–present), and she co-hosted the Tony Awards in 2021 with Leslie Odom Jr. 2017 saw McDonald’s induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Early Years

Audra McDonald was born Audra Ann McDonald in West Berlin, Germany on July 3, 1970. Anna and Stanley, her American parents, were university administrators and high school principals, respectively. Stanley was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army when Audra was born. Sadly, Stanley perished in 2007 when the experimental aircraft he was piloting apparently experienced technical difficulties and crashed in Olivehurst, Yuba County. McDonald and his younger sister Alison grew raised in Fresno, California. Alison is a director, producer, and screenwriter. Audra performed with the Good Company Players’ junior company during her youth, and she has stated that her mother and Good Company director Dan Pessano have had the greatest influence on her life. McDonald attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and was a 1988 graduate of the Roosevelt School of the Arts. The Roosevelt Auditorium was rechristened the Audra McDonald Theatre in 2018. Audra studied classical voice at the Juilliard School in New York City, from which she graduated in 1993.

Theatre Profession

McDonald made her Broadway debut in 1992 as a substitution for Ayah in “The Secret Garden.” From 1994 to 1995, she portrayed Carrie Pipperidge in “Carousel,” for which she won her first Tony Award. She portrayed Sharon Graham in “Master Class” (1995), Sarah in “Ragtime” (1997), and Lucy, The Beggar Woman in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2000), and then Deena Jones in a “Dreamgirls” benefit concert for the New York Actor’s Fund in 2001. Audra received her fourth Tony Award for her portrayal of Ruth Younger in the 2004 production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” and she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for reprising the role in the 2008 ABC version of the play. She won a Tony for her roles as Bess in “Porgy and Bess” (2011) and Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” (2014), and she was nominated for her work as Frankie in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” (2019). In 2017, McDonald reprised her role as Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” at Wyndham’s Theatre in London.

Career in Film and Television

Audra’s debut film was “Seven Servants” (1996), then she starred in “The Object of My Affection” (1998) and “Cradle Will Rock” (1999), and she portrayed Grace Farrell in the 1999 television production of “Annie.” She played Professor Carla Bonatelle on The WB’s “The Bedford Diaries” in 2006, and she played Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC’s “Private Practice” for more than 60 episodes from 2007 to 2013. McDonald featured in “It Runs in the Family” (2003), “The Best Thief in the World” (2004), and “Rampart” (2011), and she co-starred in “Ricki and the Flash” (2015) alongside Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. Audra McDonald portrayed Mother Abbess in NBC’s “The Sound of Music Live!” and performed in the concert special “Audra McDonald: Go Back Home” in 2013. In 2017, Audra portrayed Madame de Garderobe in “Beauty and the Beast,” and in 2018, she began appearing as Liz Lawrence-Reddick in “The Good Fight” on CBS All Access (now Paramount+). In 2021, she portrayed Rachel Boutella alongside her husband Will Swenson on the Spectrum Originals series “The Bite,” and she portrayed Aretha Franklin’s mother Barbara Siggers Franklin in the film “Respect.” Since 2012, McDonald has presented the PBS series “Live from Lincoln Center.”

Personal Life

Audra wed guitarist Peter Donovan on September 10, 2000, and the couple had a daughter, Zoe, on February 14, 2001, prior to divorcing in 2009. On October 6, 2012, McDonald wed fellow actor Will Swenson, who has performed in Broadway versions of “Hair,” “Les Misérables,” and “Waitress,” and on October 19, 2016, their daughter Sadie was born. Audra is also the stepmother to Will’s sons from his first marriage, Bridger and Sawyer. McDonald played “Smile” during Joan Rivers’ funeral in September 2014. Audra and a number of other theatrical artists founded Black Theatre United in June 2020 to “help defend Black people, Black talent, and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the nation.” McDonald, Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristin Chenoweth, and other Broadway artists released the multilingual children’s CD “Singing You Home – Children’s Songs for Family Reunification” in 2018; proceeds from the album benefitted groups assisting families separated at the border. In 2014, Audra joined the board of the charity organization Covenant House, which offers food, housing, and other assistance to homeless adolescents. In 2018, Covenant House awarded McDonald its Beacon of Hope Award.

Honors and Candidatures

McDonald received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 2012, and the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016 for “illuminating Broadway as one of its brightest stars.” Audra has received five Primetime Emmy nominations and won Outstanding Special Class Program for the episode of “Live from Lincoln Center” titled “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – In Concert with the New York Philharmonic” in 2015. Her other nominations were for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Film for “Wit” (2001) and “A Raisin in the Sun” (2008), Outstanding Special Class Programs for the “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel” episode of “Live from Lincoln Center” (2013), and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Film for “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” (2016). She was nominated for Best Musical Theater Album for “The Gershwins’ Porgy And Bess: New Broadway Cast Recording” (2013). McDonald earned the Marion Dougherty New York Apple Award from the Casting Society of America in 2020.

Audra has won various honors for her theatrical performances. She received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her performance in “Carousel.” She also received a Theatre World Award. She received the Tony Award and the Ovation Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for “Master Class,” and she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “Ragtime.” McDonald won a Tony, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Broadway.com Audience Award for “A Raisin in the Sun,” as well as the KissFM Phenomenal Woman Award in 2005. She received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for “Porgy and Bess,” as well as the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Broadway.com Audience Award for “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.” McDonald earned the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Theatre in 2013, and the Antonyo Award for Best Actor in a Broadway Play for “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” in 2020.