Take the BuddyTV Personality Quiz: Which Grey's Anatomy Character Are You? Award-winning American actress Chandra Wilson was born on August 27, 1969 in Houston, Texas. She was a student at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and at New York University's Tisch School of Arts. She has a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Drama. She began performing in musicals at the age of five, with Theatre Under the Stars.
Her career in the entertainment industry began at the age of five. She worked with Theater Under the Stars (TUTS) and appeared in more than ten musical productions. In college, she got her training at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. Her first major television appearance was in the short-lived sitcom, Bob Patterson, which was written by actor Jason Alexander.
Since then, Wilson has come a long way, having worked in several TV shows such as The Sopranos, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Third Watch, Sex and the City, and The Cosby Show. She also had recurring roles on One Life to Live and Queens Supreme. Ultimately, her portrayal of Bonna Willis in the theater production The Good Times are Killing Me won her a Theater World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance. She was honored by The New York Times in 2004, selecting her as one of “8 People to Watch, Onstage and Behind the Scenes.” It came in conjunction with her Broadway opening of the acclaimed Caroline, or Change, performed at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
In 2005, she joined the cast of the ABC television drama, Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Miranda Bailey. The role earned Wilson a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series in 2007. Her acceptance speech was among the most memorable ones of the night, having ended it by saying, “And last but not least, just to be able to take this thing home to my girls, in particular, and hold it in front of them and say, 'Look, with this skin and this nose, and this height, and these arms, you know, I'm here!’”
Wilson has two daughters and one son, and spends her free time watching her favorite daytime dramas, namely All My Children, One Life to Live and The Young and the Restless. She has appeared in national commercials such as those for Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Scope, and the United Negro College Fund, and has participated in radio commercials as well.
(Photos courtesy of ABC)