Happy Birthday to Tony nominee Ariana DeBose, born Jan. 25, 1991, in North Carolina. She began her dance training in Raleigh and came to national attention when she she made the Top 20 on the 2009 season of So You Think You Can Dance. After the TV show, she enrolled in Western Carolina University but soon left and moved to New York City, sleeping on the couch of her mentor Charlotte d’Amboise.
In 2011, DeBose booked the role of Nautica in the regional premiere of Bring It On and an ensemble role in the New York Philharmonic concert of Company, which was filmed for TV. She rejoined Bring It On for its national tour, making her Broadway debut with the show in 2012. Below is her dance solo to Patti LaBelle’s “2 Steps Away,” choreographed by Martha Nichols, on So You Think You Can Dance.
In 2013, DeBose returned to Broadway as Mary Wilson in Motown, then took over the role of Leading Player in Pippin (sharing the stage with D’Amboise) in 2014. She left Pippin to appear as the Bullet in the Off-Broadway production Hamilton in 2015, moving to Broadway with that show later in the year. She received an Astaire Award nomination for her performance. She left Hamilton in 2016 to join A Bronx Tale. Below is rehearsal footage of that show, including DeBose singing the second act opener, “Webster Avenue” (starting about 1:25 in the video).
DeBose next appeared on Broadway in 2018 as the Disco Donna in the musical biopic Summer. For her performance, she received a 2018 Tony Award nomination (her first) for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. Below is DeBose and the other two Donnas (LaChanze and Storm Lever) performing “Last Dance” at the Tony Awards.
Most recently, DeBose played Alyssa Greene in the film adaptation of The Prom and Anita in the upcoming film adaptation of West Side Story. She can also be heard in the current podcast As the Curtain Rises. Below is DeBose and Jo Ellen Pellman in “Alyssa Greene” from The Prom.