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Emily Tyra

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  • Comment: Does not seem to meet the criteria for a biography on Wikipedia. MurielMary (talk) 11:03, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
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Emily Tyra
File:Emily Tyra 2017.JPG
Tyra in 2017
Born
Emily Kaitlyn Tyra

(1987-11-09) November 9, 1987 (age 37)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
  • dancer
Years active2005-present
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Spouse
Adam Santucci
(m. 2019)

Emily Tyra (born November 9, 1987) is an American actress, singer and dancer.

A native of Minneapolis, Tyra grew up studying dance, music, acting and improvisation. Trained in classical ballet, Emily began her professional career in 2005 as a dancer with the Boston Ballet. In 2011, she made her Broadway debut as a singer and dancer with Hugh Jackman in his acclaimed Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway stage production.

Since her Broadway debut in 2011, Tyra has continued to appear in a variety of productions for television, stage, and film. Recent projects have included portrayals of Dr. Noa Kean in the Code Black television series, Sasha in the acclaimed horror-comedy film Harpoon and as Cassie Ferguson in a re-imagined revival of A Chorus Line.

Early life and training

Tyra was born on November 9, 1987 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father, a lawyer and an entrepreneurial business executive, grew up in a performing arts family, appearing in community musical theater productions during his childhood. Her mother is a social worker. The middle of three children, Emily has two brothers.

From 1998 to 2005, Tyra studied tap, jazz and classical ballet in numerous pre-professional dance programs,[1] including those offered by Ballet Arts Minnesota, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center,[2] The Joffrey Ballet and on scholarship with the American Ballet Theatre. Notable dance instructors have included Bonnie Mathis, Ronn Tice, Lirena Branitski, Uri Sands, Kevin McKenzie and Martine Van Hamel. Emily also studied classical voice technique privately and through a Minnesota Opera extension program. She later studied on-camera acting technique with Bob Krakower, Vance Barber and Ted Sluberski in New York.

After briefly relocating with her family to Boulder, Colorado as a teenager, Tyra returned to the Minneapolis area, graduating from Wayzata High School in 2005. During this period, she concurrently took coursework at The University of Minnesota, continued her dance training and performed improvisational comedy, dance and musical theater at the high-school and pre-professional level.

Career

Ballet and contemporary dance

After being selected by audition from more than 300 dancers, Tyra moved to Boston in the summer of 2005 and started her professional career with the Boston Ballet. As an apprentice dancer, Emily trained with the company’s next generation of dancers and performed in their holiday season production of The Nutcracker. She also served as an ensemble spokesperson at many media and fundraising events.

Preferring to grow her career in both acting and singing, Tyra turned down a professional contract to perform full-time with the company after completing the 2005-2006 season. She returned to Minneapolis and joined the James Sewell Ballet.[3] For the next three years, she danced both contemporary and new works with this ensemble, focusing heavily on improvisation, multi-disciplinary performance and collaboration with the Twin Cities performing arts community.[4][5] She also appeared as the cover model for Twin Cities Metro Magazine in 2007, a Minneapolis-Saint Paul regional arts and lifestyle magazine.

Musical theater

After leaving the James Sewell Ballet, Tyra continued her career in theater. In 2009, Emily had ensemble roles in Singin’ in the Rain and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Ordway Center in Saint Paul and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadephia, respectively. She also performed as a member of the ensemble in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Ordway.

Broadway

After relocating from Minneapolis to New York City to pursue a career on Broadway, Tyra made her Broadway debut in 2011 with Hugh Jackman in his acclaimed Back on Broadway concert series.[6] From 2011 to 2013, Emily appeared in other Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and development projects, including The City Club, Chaplin, Nice Work If You Can Get It,[7] Can-Can and An American in Paris.

Following the cancellation of Code Black in 2018, Tyra returned to musical theater after being recruited for the lead role of Cassie Ferguson in a re-choreographed revival of A Chorus Line at the Signature Theatre.[8][9][10] This production sold-out its three-month run in the Washington DC area in late 2019.[11]

Television and film

Beyond Broadway, Tyra has continued to expand her career to television and film. Following co-starring appearances in several episodes of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, she undertook the role of Mia Bialy in Flesh and Bone, a Starz miniseries of 8 episodes that was first broadcast in November 2015.[12][13] The following year, she joined the cast of CBS’s Code Black[14] television series, portraying Dr. Noa Kean in 29 episodes spanning Seasons 2 and 3.[15] She remained a member of the main cast until the series was cancelled in 2018.[16]

Tyra also continues to undertake projects with independent filmmakers, most notably to date being the portrayal of Sasha in comedic horror film Harpoon. At its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in January 2019, the film garnered positive reviews by the press[17][18][19] and was listed by GQ Magazine as one of the top 10 horror movies of 2019.[20]

Personal life

Tyra resides in the Los Angeles area with her husband, Adam Santucci. Emily has a side business teaching and making wheel thrown ceramic wares. She occasionally opens her studio for sales of her work when she is not performing.

In June 2019, Tyra announced she had undergone surgery in Los Angeles to remove a malignant brain tumor.[21] After her wedding, and a brief period of recovery, Emily returned to the performing stage in November 2019 as Cassie Ferguson in A Chorus Line.[22][23] Currently under medical treatment, Tyra remains open about her condition and has become an advocate for the cancer community.[24]

Performances

TV series

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Boardwalk Empire Dancer at Babette’s Nightclub Season 2 (Episode 201 and 208) (HBO Entertainment)
2015 Flesh and Bone Mia Bialy Co-starring role in miniseries that received 2016 Golden Globe nomination for best limited series.[25] (8 Episodes, Starz Distribution)
2016-2018 Code Black Dr. Noa Kean Main Cast, Seasons 2 and 3 (29 Episodes, CBS Entertainment)

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2019 Harpoon Sasha Horror-comedy film (Director: Rob Grant)
2018 Halation Effect Unreleased short film (Director: Adrian Hedgecock)

Theater

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Singin' in the Rain Ensemble Regional theater (Ordway Center)
2009 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Ensemble Regional theater (Walnut Street Theater)
2009 Beauty and the Beast Silly Girl #1 Regional theater (Ordway Center)
2010 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Wife (Ensemble) Regional theater (North Shore Music Theatre)
2011 Little Dancer (Renamed Marie, Dancing Still) Delphine Workshop production (Lincoln Center)
2011-2012 Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway Emily Original Broadway Cast (Broadhurst Theater)
2012 The City Club [26] Candy (Understudy: Rose) Off-Broadway Cast (Minetta Lane Theatre)
2012-2013 Chaplin Lita Grey (Understudy: Oona O’Neill Chaplin) Broadway Cast (Barrymore Theatre)
2013 Can-Can Ensemble Staged reading in New York City, Director: David Lee
2013 Nice Work If You Can Get It Rosie (Understudy: Duchess Estonia Dulworth, Eileen Evergreen) Broadway Cast with Matthew Broderick (Imperial Theater)
2013 An American in Paris Ensemble Development Lab, Director: Christopher Wheeldon
2019-2020 A Chorus Line Cassie Ferguson Regional theater, Choreography: Denis Jones (Signature Theatre)

Dance

Year Company Role Notes
2005-2006 Boston Ballet Apprentice Dancer Member of Junior Company
2006-2009 James Sewell Ballet Ensemble Improvisation and multi-disciplinary performance

References

  1. ^ Minutillo, Megan (July 10, 2013). "Actors & Actresses Q&A Series: Emily Tyra". Write the Teachers. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  2. ^ "Kaatsbaan International Dance Center". Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  3. ^ "James Sewell Ballet". James Sewell Ballet. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  4. ^ Macaulay, Alastair (October 18, 2007). "Dance Review: James Sewell Ballet". nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  5. ^ "James Sewell Ballet at The O'Shaughnessy". The Morning After Blog. Mpls - St Paul Magazine. October 26, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  6. ^ Brantley, Ben (November 10, 2011). "Theater Review, Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway". nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  7. ^ "Emily Tyra (Performer)". playbill.com. Playbill. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  8. ^ "A Chorus Line". sigtheatre.org. Signature Theatre. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  9. ^ Gans, Andrew (November 9, 2019). "Signature Theatre's A Chorus Line, Featuring New Choreography by Denis Jones, Opens November 5". playbill.com. Playbill. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  10. ^ Billups, Edith. "A Chorus Line thrills Broadway audiences in Signature Theatre". mont.thesentinel.com/. The Sentinel. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  11. ^ Hereford, André (November 14, 2019). "Review: A Chorus Line at Signature Theatre is simply terrific". metroweekly.com. Metro Weekly. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  12. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 13, 2013). "Starz Ballet Drama Eyes Green Light With Castings, Choreographer Hire". deadline.com. Deadline. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  13. ^ Rosenberg, Alyssa (November 5, 2015). "'Flesh and Bone': Behind the scenes of Starz's intense new ballet drama". chicagotribune.com. Washington Post. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  14. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (July 1, 2016). "'Code Black' Adds Nafessa Williams, Noah Gray-Cabey & Emily Tyra For Season 2". deadline.com. Deadline. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  15. ^ "Emily Tyra (Code Black Cast)". cbs.com. CBS Entertainment. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  16. ^ Otterson, Joe (May 24, 2018). "Code Black' Canceled After Three Seasons at CBS". variety.com. Variety. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Bailey, Jason (November 7, 2019). "Harpoon Review: Three Friends, One Yacht, Copious Blood". nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  18. ^ DeFore, John (October 3, 2019). "Harpoon: Film Review". hollywoodreporter.com. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  19. ^ Harvey, Dennis (October 1, 2019). "Film Review: Harpoon". variety.com. Variety. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  20. ^ Philip, Tom (August 23, 2019). "The Best Horror Movies of 2019 So Far". gq.com. GQ Magazine. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  21. ^ "American Brain Tumor Association". abta.org. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  22. ^ Floyd, Thomas. "This Actress Is High-Kicking Her Way Back To Health In Signature's 'A Chorus Line'". DCist.com. WAMU 88.5 : American University Radio. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  23. ^ Loria, Keith (October 29, 2019). "Emily Tyra went from fighting brain cancer to dancing Denis Jones' brand new choreography for A Chorus Line". DCTheatreScene.com. DC Theatre Scene. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  24. ^ Black, Shelby (March 25, 2020). "Actress Emily Tyra Was Diagnosed With Brain Cancer, Got Married, And Was Back On The Stage In Less Than A Year". survivornet.com. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  25. ^ "Winners and Nominees: Flesh & Bone". goldenglobes.com. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  26. ^ "The City Club". iobdb.com. Internet Off-Broadway Database: Lortel Archives. Retrieved March 31, 2020.

Further reading




Category:1987 births Category:21st-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Minneapolis Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:American female dancers Category:20th-century American dancers Category:20th-century ballet dancers Category:21st-century American dancers Category:21st-century ballet dancers