Tonya Pinkinsborn 1962

usually

Actor

Popularity

0.6

Famous

Biography

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.

Credits

The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide
The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide

2025

Documentary • Horror

as Horror Film Expert

0.5
The Life of Peter Gottlieb
The Life of Peter Gottlieb

2024

Comedy • Drama • Romance • Thriller

as Dean Fendleman

0.1
The Surrogate
The Surrogate

2021

Drama

as Karen Weatherston-Harris

4.8
0.3
Red Pill
Red Pill

2021

Comedy • Horror • Thriller

as Cassandra

6
2
The School for Wives
The School for Wives

2020

as Arnolphe

2
0.2
The Artist's Wife
The Artist's Wife

2020

Drama

as Liza Caldwell

5.6
0.4
Mr. Talented
Mr. Talented

2018

Drama

as Valerie Brown

0.1
Aardvark
Aardvark

2018

Drama

as Abigail

4.8
0.4
My Days of Mercy
My Days of Mercy

2018

Drama • Romance

as Agatha

7.3
1.1
The Book of Henry
The Book of Henry

2017

Crime • Drama • Thriller

as Principal Wilder

7.5
2
An Act of Terror
An Act of Terror

2017

Drama • History

as Mary Church Terrell

0.1
Collective: Unconscious
Collective: Unconscious

2016

Drama • Fantasy • Horror • Mystery

as Ripa the Reaper

6.2
0.1
Everybody Dies!
Everybody Dies!

2016

as Ripa the Reaper

5
0.1
Rasheeda Speaking
Rasheeda Speaking

2015

as Jaclyn

0.1
Home
Home

2013

Drama

as Esmin

6.6
0.4
Newlyweeds
Newlyweeds

2013

Comedy • Drama

as Patrice

4
0.2
Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

2008

Comedy • Drama • Romance

as Mrs. Robinson

6.2
0.3
Enchanted
Enchanted

2007

Comedy • Family • Fantasy • Romance

as Phoebe Banks

6.8
5.3
Romance & Cigarettes
Romance & Cigarettes

2005

Comedy • Music • Romance

as Female Medic

6
0.9
Against Their Will
Against Their Will

1994

Crime • Drama • TV Movie

as Sondra

5.5
0.6
Above the Rim
Above the Rim

1994

Crime • Drama • Thriller

as Mailika

7
1.4
Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
8
0.1
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
See No Evil, Hear No Evil

1989

Comedy • Crime

as Leslie

6.7
3
American Dream
American Dream

1981

Drama • TV Movie

0.2

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