I am a Harlem, New York native. Born and bred. I began my dance studies at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, uptown, and later, with a scholarship, at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with the legendary Frank Hatchett, downtown. It was then that I discovered Broadway! I began buying Backstage and Show Business Weekly and started auditioning for everything I possibly could, eventually landing a job in the chorus of a Broadway bound workshop called Honky Tonk Nights. It was written by Ralph Allen and David Campbell and basically was the African-American counterpart to their very successful Sugar Babies. Michael Kidd directed and choreographed what was to be a show of skits and musical numbers under AFTRA’s jurisdiction. Well, one day the folks from Actors’ Equity came by and watched rehearsal and deemed it an Equity show because they said, in fact, it had a book. So I was joyfully “forced” to join Actors' Equity Association in March of 1984. I was 19 years old and have been a proud member ever since.
