| André De Shields | |
| Birth Date: | 12 January 1946 |
| Birth Place: | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education: | Baltimore City College Wilmington College University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA) New York University (MA) |
| Years Active: | 1967–present |
André Robin De Shields (born January 12, 1946) is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Award.
De Shields has appeared in the original broadway casts of multiple musicals, including The Full Monty, Warp! and The Wiz, most recently and notably originating the role of Hermes on Broadway in the musical Hadestown, winning the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his performance. He has also appeared on television, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his performance in the 1982 NBC broadcast of Ain't Misbehavin'
André Robin De Shields was born on January 12, 1946, in Dundalk, Maryland, to Mary Gunther and John De Shields. He was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the ninth of eleven children; his father died at the age of 50, when André was 17.[1] De Shields obtained his high school diploma at Baltimore City College in 1964, then attended Wilmington College, where he starred in a production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. He then transferred colleges and earned his B.A. in English literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1970. In 1991, De Shields received his M.A. in African American studies from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study of New York University.
He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Gallatin.
De Shields began his professional career in the 1969 Chicago production of Hair, which led to a role in The Me Nobody Knows and participation in Chicago's Organic Theater Company. He performed in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. These included Ken Rubenstein's Sacred Guard (1973),[2] Lamar Alford's Thoughts (1974),[3] and the Cotton Club Gala with music by Aaron Bell and directed by Ellen Stewart (1985).[4] He co-wrote (with Judith Cohen) and directed an evening of songs called Judith and the Cohen Sisters in Midnight in Manhattan at La MaMa in September/October 1984.[5] He directed a production of Chico Kasinoir's The Adventures of Rhubarb: The Rock and Roll Rabbit in 1985[6] and a production of his own work, Saint Tous, to celebrate Black History Month at La MaMa in February 1991.[7]
He made his Broadway debut as Xander in Stuart Gordon's 1973 Warp! and next appeared in Paul Jabara's 1973 Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don't You Ever Forget It), which closed during previews.[8] He then appeared in the title role of The Wiz, Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown's 1975 musical directed by Geoffrey Holder.[9]
After choreographing two Bette Midler musicals, De Shields returned to Broadway to perform in the musical revue Ain't Misbehavin'
In 1984, De Shields wrote, choreographed, directed, and starred in André De Shields' Haarlem Nocturne, a Broadway musical revue featuring standards from the American songbook, pop hits from the early 1960s, and De Shields' own songs.[11] The revue was produced at the Latin Quarter and at La MaMa (with music by Marc Shaiman).[12] He appeared in a revival of Ain't Misbehavin'
In 2000, De Shields originated the role of Noah "Horse" T. Simmons in the Terrence McNally / David Yazbek musical adaptation of the film The Full Monty. As with Play On!, De Shields earned both Tony and Drama Desk nominations for this performance.[14] In 2004, he appeared in the Broadway production of Mark Medoff's Prymate at the Longacre Theatre.[15] In 2008, he received a Drama Desk nomination for his performance in an off-Broadway production of Langston Hughes' Black Nativity. In 2009, he appeared on Broadway opposite Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons in Impressionism.[16] The play ran through May 2009 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.
De Shields' regional theatre credits include Play On!, The Full Monty, Waiting For Godot, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Death of a Salesman, Dusyanta: A Tale of Kalidasa, The Gospel According to James, Camino Real and King Lear. In 2013, he portrayed Akela and King Louie in the world premiere of Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, a co-production of the Goodman Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company. De Shields received his 3rd Jeff Award (Outstanding Achievement in the category of Actor in a Supporting Role – Musical) for his role as King Louie, and garnered an Elliot Norton Awards nomination for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor as well as an IRNE Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Musical.
De Shields has portrayed Barrett Rude Sr. in The Fortress of Solitude, the musical based on Jonathan Lethem's novel The Fortress of Solitude, since its inception in 2012 at Vassar College. The Fortress of Solitude premiered at the Dallas Theater Center in spring 2014,[17] and the off-Broadway production of The Fortress of Solitude, co-produced with The Public Theater, ran through November 2014. De Shields, Lillias White, Stefanie Powers, and Georgia Engel starred in the new musical Gotta Dance, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. The musical began performances on December 13, 2015, at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre and ran through January 17, 2016.[18] [19]
He played Hermes in the Broadway musical Hadestown, which began previews on March 22, 2019, at the Walter Kerr Theatre. He received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown on his third nomination.[20] He played his final performance on May 29, 2022. On January 26, 2021, it was announced that De Shields would reprise his role as Hermes in Live From Mount Olympus, a narrative podcast for tweens directed by Rachel Chavkin and Zhailon Levingston.[21] The series was produced by The Onassis Foundation and TRAX from PRX. De Shields' co-stars include fellow Hadestown cast member Amber Gray, Divine Garland, Vinie Burrows, Kristen Sieh, and more.[22]
De Shields has appeared on television on Another World, Cosby, Sex and the City, Great Performances, Lipstick Jungle, Law & Order, and . He won an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his performance in the 1982 NBC broadcast of Ain't Misbehavin'
On December 28, 2020, it was announced that De Shields would star as Anton Ego in a benefit concert presentation of Ratatouille the Musical, an internet meme that originated on TikTok, inspired by the 2007 Disney/Pixar film. The concert streamed exclusively on TodayTix on January 1, 2021.[23] De Shields appeared in Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial debut film, tick, tick... BOOM!, released on Netflix on November 12, 2021, as a patron of the Moondance Diner in the musical scene for "Sunday", as well as other Broadway actors such as Chita Rivera, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, among others. He also plays the significant supporting role of Jack in Netflix comedy Uncoupled, released in July 2022.
In September 2022, De Shields began performances as Uncle Ben in Death of a Salesman on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre.[24] In March 2024, De Shields was announced to be portraying Old Deuteronomy in Cats at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in the summer of that year.[25]
De Shields is gay,[26] but prefers to be described as "a Black man who is queer" or "a Black man who loves other men".[1] He is also a "long-term survivor" of HIV, living with HIV for over 40 years, having been diagnosed during the early AIDS epidemic after noticing his lymph nodes were swollen when shaving before a Los Angeles performance on Ain't Misbehavins 1980 national tour and being formally diagnosed in 1991.[1] [27] His partner of 17 years, Chico Kasinoir, died in June 1992 of AIDS-related lymphoma.[28] Another partner of De Shields', a man named John whom he was with for two years, died of AIDS-related meningitis in 1995.[29]
| Year | Award | Category | Production | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Ain't Misbehavin' | ||
| 1982 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program | |||
| 1984 | AUDELCO Recognition Award | Outstanding Direction of a Musical | Blackberries | ||
| Outstanding Choreography of a Musical | |||||
| 1991 | Excellence in Black Theatre | Saint Tous | |||
| 1992 | Haarlem Nocturne | ||||
| 1997 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actor in a Musical | Play On! | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | ||||
| 2001 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actor in a Musical | The Full Monty | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | ||||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | ||||
| 2004 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Prymate | ||
| AUDELCO Recognition Award | Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Play | Dream on Monkey Mountain | |||
| 2007 | Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Wisconsin–Madison | ||||
| Obie Award | Sustained Excellence of Performance | ||||
| 2008 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Black Nativity | ||
| 2009 | AUDELCO Recognition Award | Outstanding Performance in a Musical [Male] | Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe | ||
| National Black Theatre Festival | Living Legend Award | ||||
| 2013 | Jeff Award | Outstanding Achievement in the category of Actor in a Supporting Role – Musical | The Jungle Book | ||
| IRNE Award | Best Supporting Actor - Musical | ||||
| Elliot Norton Award | Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor | ||||
| Fox Foundation Fellowship Grant for Distinguished Achievement ($25,000 to support his work at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago)[30] | |||||
| 2014 | AUDELCO Recognition Award | Special Achievement Award[31] | |||
| 2018 | Bistro Awards | Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award | |||
| 2019 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actor in a Musical[32] | Hadestown | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | ||||
| Drama League Award | Distinguished Performance[33] | ||||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical[34] | ||||
| 2020 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | |||
| 2023 | Drama League Award | Distinguished Achievement In Musical Theater[35] | |||