Tracie Thoms (born August 19, 1975) is an American television, film, and stage actress.
Thoms was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She started studying acting when she was nine, and now holds a BFA from Howard University and a graduate degree in acting from the Juilliard School.
Thoms is best known for her role of
Mahandra McGinty in the television show Wonderfalls. She also played the part of Sasha in the series "As If", which was cancelled after three episodes. Most recently she has been added to the cast of the CBS crime drama Cold Case, as the lesbian narcotics 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 original Rent broadway show and who decided not to reprise her role due to her age. She was featured in the 2002 Comedy Central film Porn 'n Chicken and the 2004 films Brother to Brother and The Warrior Class. Thoms is slated to appear in the 2006 release of the 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.
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 Theater Workshop), The Oedipus Plays (The Shakespeare Theater), A Raisin in the Sun (Baltimore Center Stage), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Rep), The Exonerated (Off Broadway's The Culture Project) and The Antigone Project (The Women's Project).
