Ariana Debose is an actress, singer, and dancer from the United States of America. She has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and Tony and Drama League Award nominations.
So You Think You Can Dance was DeBose’s first appearance on television. She then had her Broadway debut in 2011 in the musical Bring It On: The Musical, followed by parts in Motown: The Musical in 2013 and Pippin in 2014. From 2015 to 2016, she played The Bullet in the original cast of Hamilton, and from 2016 to 2017, she played Jane in A Bronx Tale. For her work as Donna Summer in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2018.
DeBose also starred in the filmed stage production of Hamilton, which will be aired on Disney+ in 2020. In Netflix’s The Prom (2020), she portrayed Alyssa Greene, and in Apple TV+’s musical comedy Schmigadoon!, she played Emma (2021). With her work as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of West Side Story (2021), DeBose received global acclaim and critical acclaim, earning her multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Ariana DeBose wins Oscar for best-supporting actress
For her work as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s production of “West Side Story,” Ariana DeBose won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. It’s her first Academy Award nomination. The result was predictable, but it is nevertheless historic because the 31-year-old actress is only the second Latina to win an Oscar. Rita Moreno was the first, winning in 1962 for the same part in the original film adaptation. DeBose is also the first openly gay actor to receive an Academy Award for acting.
DeBose beat out Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Judi Dench (“Belfast”), Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”), and Aunjanue Ellis (“King Richard”).
In accepting the award, DeBose made reference to being a queer woman of color and said:
“Imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus. Look into her eyes. You see a queer — openly queer — woman of color, an Afro-Latina, who found her strength in life through art, and that’s what I believe we are here to celebrate. So to anybody who has ever questioned your identity — ever, ever, ever, — or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us.”
For her captivating performance as an America-loving seamstress who cherishes both Bernardo and his younger sister, Maria, DeBose won statues at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the British Academy Film Awards. For her work as Donna Summer in the short-lived musical “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” the actress-singer-dancer has been nominated for a Tony Award.
Ariana DeBose Age, Family, and Early Life
Ariana Debose was born on January 25, 1991(Age 31 Years) in Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S. Her mother, Gina DeBose, is an 8th-grade teacher. DeBose trained in dance at CC & Co. Dance Complex in Raleigh. DeBose has stated that her father is Puerto Rican and her mother is white and that she also has African-American and Italian ancestry. She completed her studies at Western Carolina University. She is an actress, singer, and dancer by profession. Ariana has a mixed ethnicity of Black, Latina, and white. She holds the nationality of American.
DeBose identifies as queer and came out to her grandparents in 2015. In December 2020, DeBose and Jo Ellen Pellman launched the Unruly Hearts Initiative. The initiative was created to help young people connect with organizations and charities that advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
DeBose is in a romantic relationship with the costume designer and professor Sue Makkoo. The pair met while working on “Summer: A Donna Summer Musical” in 2017.