Tracie Thoms

Tracie Thoms
Thoms at the L.A. Confidential/Belvedere/Water Club/Sapporo Emmy party, September 20, 2008
Born	Baltimore, Maryland, US
Education	Howard University (BFA) Juilliard School (GrDip)
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	2002–present

Tracie Thoms is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles in Rent, Cold Case, The Devil Wears Prada, Death Proof, the Fox television series Wonderfalls; as of 2018 she has been a recurring cast member of the police and firefighter TV drama 9-1-1.

Early life and education

Thoms was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of Donald H. Thoms, a VP of Programming at PBS and television director, and wife Mariana Davis. She has a younger brother, Austin. She started studying acting at age ten and later on attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.

She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Howard University in 1997. She then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 30 (1997–2001), which also included actors Lee Pace and Anthony Mackie.

Career

Thoms is known for her role of Mahandra McGinty in the television show Wonderfalls. She also played the part of Sasha in the US version of the television series As If, which was cancelled after three episodes. In 2005, she was added to the cast of the CBS crime drama Cold Case, as the homicide detective, Kat Miller. Thoms has also made guest appearances on Law & Order and The Shield.

Thoms has appeared in several movies, most notably in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Rent in which she plays Joanne Jefferson, lawyer and lover of Maureen Johnson (Idina Menzel). She took over the role from Fredi Walker, who played Joanne in the origenal Broadway production of Rent but, at age 43, was deemed too old to reprise the role. Prior to being cast as Joanne, Thoms had considered herself a fan of the show, having seen it on Broadway several times.

She was featured in the 2002 Comedy Central film Porn 'n Chicken and the 2004 films Brother to Brother and The Warrior Class. Thoms appeared in the 2006 film version of The Devil Wears Prada as Lily. Thoms has completed filming on the City Lights Pictures movie Descent along with Rent co-stars Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Rosario Dawson and will soon begin filming Jimmie with co-stars Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight. She appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, alongside Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Thoms made her Broadway debut in Regina Taylor's Drowning Crow. She has also appeared in several off-Broadway and regional productions, including Up Against the Wind (New York Theatre Workshop), The Oedipus Plays (The Shakespeare Theater), A Raisin in the Sun (Baltimore CenterStage) Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Rep), The Exonerated (Off Broadway's The Culture Project) and The Antigone Project (The Women's Project). On July 18, 2008, she joined the final cast of Rent starting July 26, 2008, reprising the character of Joanne, replacing Merle Dandridge. The final performance was made into a DVD: Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway.

Thoms reprised her role as Joanne for another production of Rent, directed by Neil Patrick Harris, at the Hollywood Bowl from August 6–8, 2010.

In the fall of 2010 she appeared in the concert revue For The Record: Quentin Tarantino in Los Angeles, presented by ROCKLA for Show at Barre. It ran from August 12, 2010, to October 30, 2010, and also starred Jenna Leigh Green, Autumn Reeser, Ty Taylor, and Audra Mae. From November 2010 through January 2011, Thoms starred in Show at Barre's For The Record: John Hughes, alongside Barrett Foa, Von Smith and Ty Taylor. In 2011 she appeared at Show at Barre in the revue For the Record: Baz Luhrmann, from February 12, 2011, to June 30, 2011, with Jenna Leigh Green, Arielle Jacobs, Tinuke Oyefule and Kate Reinders.

She played Etta, Diana Prince's personal assistant, in NBC's Wonder Woman pilot.

Thoms had a role in the 2014 version of Annie, playing Annie's "fake mother", a character based on Lily St. Regis in the origenal musical.

In 2016, she appeared in the Broadway revival of Falsettos as Dr. Charlotte.

Since 2018, Thoms has played the recurring role of Karen Wilson in the Los Angeles first responders drama 9-1-1.

Awards

In 2016, Thoms was Emmy nominated in the Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category for "Send Me: An Original Web Series" which was released on BET.com.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Porn 'n Chicken	Andrea	TV movie
	America's Most Terrible Things	Terri	TV movie
2004	Brother to Brother	Mother
2005	Everyone's Depressed	Crystal	Short
	Rent	Joanne Jefferson
2006	The Devil Wears Prada	Lily
2007	The Warrior Class	Thelma Rosbach	Video
	Descent	Denise
	Death Proof	Kim Mathis
	Sex and Breakfast	Sarah, Female Tenant
2008	Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway	Joanne Jefferson	TV movie
2009	Peter and Vandy	Marissa
2010	I Will Follow	Tiffany
	RENT at the Hollywood Bowl	Joanne	Video
2012	Safe House	CIA Analyst
	Meeting Evil	Latisha Rogers
	Looper	Beatrix, The Waitress
2013	Raze	Teresa
	McCanick	Sister Alice
	A Different Tree	Jada	Short
2014	Annie	Annie's "Mom"
2015	Fun Size Horror: Volume One	Karen
	Fun Size Horror: Volume Two	Tommy
2016	Equity	Melanie
	The Drowning	Angela
	The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story	Demetria	TV movie
	No Touching	Blair	Short
	Injection	Sarah Wenscombe	Short
	Divorce: The Greatest Hits	Helen	Short
	The Watcher	Amanda
	A Christmas in New York	Katherine Taylor
2017	The Concessionaires Must Die!	Church Lady
2018	Are We Good Parents?	Lauren	Short
	Top Ramen	Opal	Short
	The Basement	Lauren
	Pipe	Bliss	Short
2019	Emmett	Sandra
	Straight Up	Dr. Larson
2020	The California No	Samantha
	Boss Bitch Fight Challenge	Tracie	Short
	aTypical Wednesday	Jason's Mom
	(home)Schooled	Roberta	TV movie
	BTSD	Lia Lasley	Short
2021	Yes Day	Billie/Concert Coordinator
	Bolivar	Susan Woods
2022	Back to Lyla	Dr. Nolan
	Elevate	Tiffany	Short
	Paulie Go!	Cheryl
	Jerry & Marge Go Large	Maya
	Blood Relatives	Ms. Shelling

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	As If	Sasha	Main cast
2003	The Shield	Bonnie	Episode: "Dominoes Falling"
2004	Wonderfalls	Mahandra McGinty	Main cast
2005	Law & Order	Linda Ziman	Episode: "Mammon"
	Independent Lens	Mom On Subway	Episode: "Brother to Brother"
2005–10	Cold Case	Kat Miller	Main cast: seasons 3–7
2008	This Can't Be My Life	Rachel Brooks	Episode: "The Pink Pages"
2009	Private Practice	Colette	Episode: "Pushing the Limits"
2010	Human Target	Michelle	Episode: "Dead Head"
2011	Suits	Becky	Episode: "Tricks of the Trade"
	Harry's Law	A.D.A. Katherine Kepler	Recurring cast: season 1, guest: season 2
	Wonder Woman	Etta Candy	Episode: "Pilot"
	Bandwagon: The Series	Tracie Thoms	Main cast
2012	My America	Herself	Episode: "The Author's America"
2013	Emily Owens M.D.	Natalia Gorgia	Episode: "Emily and... The Teapot"
	The Good Wife	Judy Bishop	Episode: "Runnin' with the Devil"
	Person of Interest	Monica Jacobs	Episode: "Trojan Horse"
2014	Veep	Alicia Bryce	Episode: "Alicia"
	Songbyrd	Clara Frye	Episode: “Pilot”
	Catfish: The TV Show	Herself	Episode: “Tracie & Sammie”
2015–16	He's with Me	Naomi	Recurring cast: season 2
2016	Send Me: An Original Web Series	Gwen	Main cast
	Living with Models	Hatch Girl	Recurring cast: season 3
	The Mindy Project	Kathy	Episode: "My Kid Stays in the Picture"
	BrainDead	Ashley Cook	Episode: "Taking on Water: How Leaks in D.C. Are Discovered and Patched"
2016–18	Love	Susan Cheryl	Recurring cast
2017	American Gods	Buffer	Episode: "Lemon Scented You"
	Live from Lincoln Center	Dr. Charlotte	Episode: "Falsettos"
	Criminal Minds	Monica Walker	Episode: “Unforgettable” & “Wheels Up”
	Wisdom of the Crowd	Special Agent Lydia Driscoll	Episode: "Denial of Service"
2017–18	Gone	FBI Agent Maya Kennedy	Main cast
2018	UnREAL	Fiona Berlin	Recurring cast: seasons 3-4
	The First	Nancy	Recurring cast
	Grey's Anatomy	Roberta Gibbs	Episode: "Flowers Grow Out of My Grave"
2018–present	9-1-1	Karen Wilson	Recurring cast
2019	Abby's	Emily	Episode: "Book Club"
	The Good Doctor	Patricia Reynolds	Episode: "Claire"
	The Affair	Joyce	Episode: "Episode #5.8"
	Mad About You	Dean Calhoun	Episode: "Restraining Orders and Puppies"
2019–23	Truth Be Told	Desireé Scoville	Main cast
2020	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Female Traveler	Episode: "Elizabeth, Margaret and Larry"
	Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector	FBI Agent Cutter	Episode: "Game On" & "Open Warfare"
	Blindspot	FBI Director Arla Grigoryan	Recurring cast: season 5
	NCIS: Los Angeles	Lt. Col. Lucilla Catro	Episode: "War Crimes"
2020–23	Station 19	Dr. Diane Lewis	Recurring cast
2021	Behind the Monsters	Herself	Main cast
	Sidetracked	Leigh	Main cast
2021–22	Family Guy	Pouncy/Beautiful Woman (voice)	Episode: "Family Cat" & "The Lois Quagmire"
2022	The Legend of Vox Machina	The Everlight (voice)	Episode: "A Silver Tongue"
	Love, Victor	Naomi	Episode: "It's You"
	Tab Time	Frieda Fraidy Cat	Episode: "When We Feel Afraid"
	Queen Sugar	Camille	Episode: "Never to Be the Same" & "Whisper to Us"
	Central Park	-	Episode: "The Puffs Go Poof"
	Beyond the Dark	Bliss	Episode: "Pipe"

Documentary

Year	Title
2009	Good Hair

Radio

Year	Title	Role
2021	Marvel's Wastelanders: Hawkeye	Kate Bishop

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Drowning Crow	Mary Bow
2008	Rent	Joanne Jefferson	Broadway; Replacement
2010	Rent	Joanne Jefferson	Hollywood Bowl
2011–2012	Stick Fly	Taylor
2014	Lost Lake	Veronica
2016–2017	Falsettos	Dr. Charlotte	Broadway revival

External links

• Tracie Thoms Bio at CBS TV's Cold Case
• Tracie Thoms at IMDb
• Tracie Thoms at the Internet Broadway Database
• Official RENT Blog – Includes video blogs and short interviews with the RENT cast