Tonya Pinkins

Tonya Pinkins

Born: May 30, 1962
in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Tonya Pinkins was born in Chicago, Illinois. She has four children. Her father was a police officer and insurance salesman and her mother is a former postal worker. She has two brothers, Eric Swoope and Thomas Swoope and a sister Tamera Swoope from whom she is estranged. She was interested in the arts from a young age. In high school, she studied acting at the Goodman Theatre Young People's Program. Aged 18, she briefly attended college and decided to pursue an acting career instead. She later returned to college, earning an undergraduate degree from Columbia College in Chicago, followed by graduate work at Carnegie Mellon's music theater program, and a year at California Western School of Law in San Diego.

Pinkins is probably most admired for her stage work. She won a Tony Award for her performance as Sweet Anita in Jelly's Last Jam. She was nominated for her roles in Play On! and in Caroline, or Change, where she played the title role. Her additional Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The Wild Party, House of Flowers, Radio Golf, A Time To Kill and Holler If Ya Hear Me.

Pinkins has performed in several Off Broadway productions, including the comic role of Mopsa, the Shepherdess, in The Winter's Tale produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company at The Shakespeare Center in 1983.

In 2011, Pinkins starred in the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar at La Jolla Playhouse, and received a 2012 Craig Noel nomination for Best featured Actress in a Play. She reprised her role in the Playwrights Horizons in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and garnered a 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

In 2012 Pinkins starred in Katori Hall's play Hurt Village, the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project made its world-premiere at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company as part of the theatre's inaugural season. The play also Marsha Stephanie Blake, Ron Cephas Jones, Saycon Sengbloh, Lloyd Watts, Charlie Hudson III, Nicholas Christopher, Corey Hawkins, Ron Cephas Jones and Joaquina Kalukango.

In 2014, Pinkins appeared in New Federal Theatre's revival of Ed Bullins' The Fabulous Miss Marie opposite Roscoe Orman; in the Broadway production of Holler If Ya Hear Me; and the world premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' War at Yale Repertory.

She has also had a prolific television career making guest appearances on such television shows as Army Wives, 24, Law & Order, The Cosby Show, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, and The Guardian among others. During the mid-1980s Pinkins created the role of Heather Dalton on the CBS soap, As the World Turns. In 1991 she was cast as Livia Frye in All My Children. Pinkins left All My Children in 1995 but returned to her role in 2003. She was later put on contract with the show from March 2004 until June 2006, when she was downgraded to recurring status. She has played Amala Motobo on the popular television show 24. She has appeared in several films in supporting roles, including Newlyweeds, Home, Fading Gigolo opposite Woody Allen, Enchanted, Premium, Romance & Cigarettes, Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom and Above the Rim among others.

Movies for Tonya Pinkins...

The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide
Title: The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide
Character: Horror Film Expert
Released: October 15, 2024
Type: Movie
Why do people no longer see this type of stories nowadays? How can this notion be awakened? Which films should begin to feed back from the past and balance them with the current horror?
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Title: East New York
Character: Shirley Haywood
Released: October 2, 2022
Type: TV
Regina Haywood is the newly promoted deputy inspector of East New York, a working-class neighborhood at the edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting in the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.
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Title: Women of the Movement
Character: Alma
Released: January 6, 2022
Type: TV
A limited series focusing on Mamie Till Mobley, who devoted her life to seeking justice for her son Emmett Till following his brutal murder in the Jim Crow South.
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Title: The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler
Character: Narradora
Released: December 2, 2021
Type: TV
Dives deep into unsolved murders of women that have been found strangled across Chicago.
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The Surrogate
Title: The Surrogate
Character: Karen Weatherston-Harris
Released: July 9, 2021
Type: Movie
Jess is thrilled to be the surrogate for her best friend and his husband, but when a prenatal test comes back, it creates a moral dilemma that threatens their friendship.
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Title: Run the World
Character: Gwen Greene
Released: May 16, 2021
Type: TV
The story of a group of Black women who work, live, and play in Harlem as they strive for world domination. They're not only surviving – but thriving together.
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Red Pill
Title: Red Pill
Character: Cassandra
Released: March 12, 2021
Type: Movie
Set over Halloween weekend 2020, this political thriller follows six friends as they head into "red" country to canvas white women to vote. They are armed with idealism and determination, but they should have brought heavy artillery. As they explore the creepy house they booked for the weekend distressing clues indicate that they should get out of there, but they decide to stay. They should have brought heavy artillery.
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The School for Wives
Title: The School for Wives
Character: Arnolphe
Released: October 24, 2020
Type: Movie
The School For Wives, at its core, is about gender power dynamics. We are looking forward to telling this classic 17th century French tale through the lens of a contemporary aesthetic and an all female, primarly non-white cast to further bring into focus the inherent power of justice and equality over racism and sexism. Furthermore, by casting a Black woman in the central role of ARNOLPHE - a white man of power and privilege, who is forced to realize that he cannot control or snuff out ANYONE's humanity - we are shining a light on the ultimate absurdity of similar American systems of oppression.
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The Artist's Wife
Title: The Artist's Wife
Character: Liza Caldwell
Released: September 25, 2020
Type: Movie
Claire Smythson, wife of the renowned abstract artist Richard Smythson, is plunged into a late-life crisis when her husband is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and is in danger of not completing the paintings for his final show.
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Title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga
Character: Burgess
Released: September 4, 2019
Type: TV
In the early 1990s in New York, during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, a visionary musician named Bobby Diggs aka The RZA begins to form a super group of a dozen young, black men, who will eventually rise to become one of the unlikeliest success stories in American music history.
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Title: God Friended Me
Character: Marsha
Released: September 30, 2018
Type: TV
A self-proclaimed "pesky atheist" is encouraged to help strangers by someone claiming to be God who friends him on Facebook.
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Mr. Talented
Title: Mr. Talented
Character: Valerie Brown
Released: August 11, 2018
Type: Movie
Inspired by a true story, Mr. Talented follows a space-obsessed photographer whose life and sanity unravels as he struggles to make a name for himself in the art world.
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Title: Random Acts of Flyness
Character: Ripa The Reaper
Released: August 4, 2018
Type: TV
Late-night series featuring a mix of vérité documentary, musical performances, surrealist melodrama and humorous animation as a stream-of-consciousness response to the contemporary American mediascape.
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Aardvark
Title: Aardvark
Character: Abigail
Released: April 13, 2018
Type: Movie
The aardvark has evolved to be one of a kind. You could say the same of Josh Norman.
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My Days of Mercy
Title: My Days of Mercy
Character: Agatha
Released: March 31, 2018
Type: Movie
The daughter of a man on death row falls in love with a woman on the opposing side of her family's political cause.
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The Book of Henry
Title: The Book of Henry
Character: Principal Wilder
Released: June 16, 2017
Type: Movie
Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.
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An Act of Terror
Title: An Act of Terror
Character: Mary Church Terrell
Released: January 1, 2017
Type: Movie
The true story of Virginia Christian, a 16-year-old African American girl accused of murder in the Jim Crow South.
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Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...
Title: Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...
Character: Herself
Released: October 9, 2016
Type: Movie
This film from acclaimed theater director Lonny Price charts the journey of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" in the 30-plus years since the musical debuted on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre in 1981.
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Title: Bull
Character: Judge Maynard
Released: September 20, 2016
Type: TV
Dr. Jason Bull is the brilliant, brash, and charming founder of a hugely successful trial consulting firm.
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Collective: Unconscious
Title: Collective: Unconscious
Character: Ripa the Reaper
Released: March 13, 2016
Type: Movie
A man and his grandmother hide out from an ominous broadcast. The Grim Reaper hosts a TV show. The formerly incarcerated recount and reinterpret their first days of freedom. A suburban mom's life is upturned by the beast growing inside of her. And a high school gym teacher runs drills from inside a volcano. What happens when five of independent film's most adventurous filmmakers join together to literally adapt each other’s dreams for the screen?
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Everybody Dies!
Title: Everybody Dies!
Character: Ripa the Reaper
Released: March 3, 2016
Type: Movie
In this recreated public access television show, Ripa the Grim Reaper teaches black kids about the day they'll die.
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Title: 11.22.63
Character: Mia Mimi Corcoran
Released: February 15, 2016
Type: TV
An English teacher travels back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination, but discovers he is attached to the life he has made in a bygone era.
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Rasheeda Speaking
Title: Rasheeda Speaking
Character: Jaclyn
Released: October 1, 2015
Type: Movie
This tense workplace thriller examines the realities of so-called “post-racial” America. Co-workers are driven apart by the machinations of their boss, and a chilling power struggle ensues that spins wildly out of control.
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Title: Fear the Walking Dead
Character: Martha
Released: August 23, 2015
Type: TV
What did the world look like as it was transforming into the horrifying apocalypse depicted in "The Walking Dead"? This spin-off set in Los Angeles, following new characters as they face the beginning of the end of the world, will answer that question.
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Title: Gotham
Character: Ethel Peabody
Released: September 22, 2014
Type: TV
Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world's greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon's story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world's most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?
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Title: The Strain
Character: Francis
Released: July 13, 2014
Type: TV
A high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.
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Home
Title: Home
Character: Esmin
Released: November 22, 2013
Type: Movie
The story of a man suffering from mental illness who attempts to rebuild his life.
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Title: Hostages
Character: Beth Nix
Released: September 23, 2013
Type: TV
A high-octane suspense drama that centers on Dr. Ellen Sanders, a premier surgeon thrust into a chilling political conspiracy when she and her family are held captive in their home by rogue FBI Agent Duncan Carlisle, a desperate man doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, who orders Dr. Sanders to assassinate the President when she operates on him.
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Newlyweeds
Title: Newlyweeds
Character: Patrice
Released: September 18, 2013
Type: Movie
A match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry when Lyle can't decide which matters most, Nina or Mary Jane.
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Title: Elementary
Character: Judge Marilyn Whitfield
Released: September 27, 2012
Type: TV
A modern-day drama about a crime-solving duo that cracks the NYPD's most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare - a sober companion, Dr. Watson.
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Title: Scandal
Character: Sandra
Released: April 5, 2012
Type: TV
Everyone has secrets and Olivia Pope has dedicated her life to protecting and defending the public images of the elite by keeping those secrets under wraps. Pope and her team are at the top of their game when it comes to getting the job done for their clients, but it becomes apparent that these "gladiators in suits," who specialize in fixing the lives of other people, have trouble fixing those closest at hand -- their own.
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Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
Title: Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
Character: Mrs. Robinson
Released: October 26, 2008
Type: Movie
As Noah and Wade prepare to marry in Martha's Vineyard, the personal problems of their friends - and the unexpected arrival of rapper Baby Gat - threatens to permanently end their relationship.
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Enchanted
Title: Enchanted
Character: Phoebe Banks
Released: November 20, 2007
Type: Movie
The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid - even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home - she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?
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Title: Army Wives
Released: June 3, 2007
Type: TV
Army Wives is an American drama series that follows the lives of four army wives, one army husband, and their families.
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Title: Criminal Minds
Character: Det. Nora Bennett
Released: September 22, 2005
Type: TV
An elite team of FBI profilers analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most experienced agent is David Rossi, a founding member of the BAU who returns to help the team solve new cases.
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Romance & Cigarettes
Title: Romance & Cigarettes
Character: Female Medic
Released: September 13, 2005
Type: Movie
Ironworker Nick lives with his wife, Kitty, and three daughters. When he meets a significantly younger woman, Tula, he starts an affair with her, much to the chagrin of his wife, and his life is thrown into upheaval. Kitty kicks Nick out of the house, and he is forced to make some difficult decisions.
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Title: The Closer
Character: Donna Taft
Released: June 13, 2005
Type: TV
Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson transfers from Atlanta to LA to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Johnson's quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rubs her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world's best interrogator eventually wins over even her toughest critics.
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Title: Black in the 80s
Released: February 1, 2005
Type: TV
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Title: Cold Case
Character: Dina Miller
Released: September 28, 2003
Type: TV
The Philadelphia homicide squad's lone female detective finds her calling when she is assigned cases that have never been solved. Detective Lilly Rush combines her natural instincts with the updated technology available today to bring about justice for all the victims she can.
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Title: 24
Released: November 6, 2001
Type: TV
Counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer fights the bad guys of the world, a day at a time. With each week's episode unfolding in real-time, "24" covers a single day in the life of Bauer each season.
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Title: The Guardian
Released: September 25, 2001
Type: TV
Nick Fallin is a hotshot lawyer working at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh law firm. Unfortunately, the high life has gotten the best of Nick. Arrested for drug use, he's sentenced to do 1,500 hours of community service, somehow to be squeezed into his 24/7 cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings. Reluctantly, he's now The Guardian - a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances.
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Title: University Hospital
Released: January 16, 1995
Type: TV
University Hospital is an American medical drama that aired from January 16 until May 1, 1995.
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Against Their Will: Women in Prison
Title: Against Their Will: Women in Prison
Character: Sondra
Released: October 29, 1994
Type: Movie
Behind prison walls, corruption, sex and power make criminals out of the guards and heroes out of the guarded. For more than a decade, the lawless guards inside a maximum security women's prison have reigned with impunity - rape, sex for money and illegal favors have become the norm until one woman decides to battle the system. Leading a group of inmates on a risky life-or-death struggle for justice, a ten year silence is finally broken, exposing the twisted truth to the world and enabling the prisoners the freedom to live without fear.
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Above the Rim
Title: Above the Rim
Character: Mailika
Released: March 23, 1994
Type: Movie
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
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Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
Title: Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
Character: Herself
Released: November 2, 1992
Type: Movie
A behind the scenes look at the Broadway production of Jelly's Last Jam, including a tribute to jazz musician and composer Jelly Roll Morton. Gregory Hines and George C. Wolfe, who wrote the book for Jelly's Last Jam, are interviewed. Includes scenes from the show.
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Title: Law & Order
Character: Angela Young
Released: September 13, 1990
Type: TV
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
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Title: Law & Order
Character: Woman
Released: September 13, 1990
Type: TV
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
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See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Title: See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Character: Leslie
Released: May 12, 1989
Type: Movie
A murder takes place in the shop of David Lyons, a deaf man who fails to hear the gunshot being fired. Outside, blind man Wally Karue hears the shot but cannot see the perpetrator. Both are arrested, but escape to form an unlikely partnership. Being chased by both the law AND the original killers, can the pair work together to outwit them all?
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Title: Crime Story
Character: Junkie Prostitute
Released: September 19, 1986
Type: TV
The hard-boiled saga of hair-trigger cop Lieutenant Mike Torello and his obsessive pursuit of ruthless gangster Ray Luca.
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Title: The Cosby Show
Released: September 20, 1984
Type: TV
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.
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American Dream
Title: American Dream
Released: April 26, 1981
Type: Movie
A family moves from an affluent Chicago suburb to the mixed inner-city neighborhood where the father grew up, with the idea of giving the kids, who are becoming materialistic snobs, the feel of a big city environment.
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Title: Great Performances
Character: Self
Released: January 28, 1971
Type: TV
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
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Title: All My Children
Released: January 5, 1970
Type: TV
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC for 41 years, from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network since April 29, 2013 via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and iTunes. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia which is modeled on the actual Philadelphia suburb of Rosemont.