Idara Victor is a Nigerian-American stage, television and film actress
best known for her lead roles in Rizzoli & Isles and Turn:
Washington's Spies.Idara Victor was born in Brooklyn, New York, to
Barbara and Stan Victor, both from Akwa Ibom State in southern
Nigeria, and she is the middle child of three girls, who grew up in
Brooklyn and Long Island. Idara "was probably the loudest of the
siblings", and started dancing and playing piano at the age of eight,
that led to her singing an opera aria for the first time at the age of
in a state competition and exhibition. At the age of she won the
Miss New York Junior Teen contest. She was discovered by an agent at a
fashion show commitment, and pushed towards a career in modeling, but
she intended to pursue an acting career. As a result of her academic
achievements, she was enrolled in the undergrad program of the Wharton
School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where she
studied entrepreneurial management and marketing. With friends she
performed plays in parks around Philadelphia and studied acting
privately, going to a few professional auditions and booking work
while she was home in New York on summer breaks.At UPENN she still
performed Shakespeare readings and danced with the acclaimed dance
troupe African Rhythms West African ballet and Afro-Cuban dance on her
free time. When Victor graduated, she left a job offer at InStyle
magazine, started making music with her friend Mike "Double-O" (Kidz
In The Hall), and began training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre
Institute, a conservatory of the Tisch School of the Arts. She
developed her artist community with many friends from the NYU program,
and her friend Hyun Kim linked her up with the Nigerian-American
actress Adepero Oduye for mentoring support. To finance her studies,
Idara provided an online clothing store called Girled-Out, and also
trained daily with actors from all over the world. As she watched Cate
Blanchett in a movie, "the truth would grip me, I would think, I'm
dying â€" my heart has definitely stopped, and if I don't get to get
up there and do it too, I might as well just keep it off permanently."
Now in New York City, John Caird introduced her into the New York
theatre scene straight out of college, hiring Victor for her first
Broadway show that fall, in the revival of Les Misérables â€" "an
amazing thing I learned was that when I went on as Cosette, I was the
first African-American woman to ever play the role in the show's
years of running". Idara Victor continued training and working in New
York, and soon booked work over the next two years at The Public
Theater (The Bacchae), Lincoln Center (Happiness), and the Roundabout
Theater Company (The Tin Pan Alley Rag), to work with the directors
Susan Stroman, Joanne Akalaitis, James Lapine, Stafford Arima and Tina
Landau. Idara Victor is a natural operatic soprano, also sang Joplin's
ragtime opera Treemonisha, and performed at the th Academy
Awards.While still in her studies, Idara Victor first appeared
onscreen in the indie film Not Just Yet and her first television role
was in the TV series Starved, playing opposite Sterling K. Brown.
During her time at Les Misérables, she also played recurring roles on
Guiding Light and appeared on the television shows Law & Order, Law &
Order: SVU, All My Children and How to Make It in America. After
moving to Los Angeles, she appeared in large roles in hit television
series including Mad Men, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, and
Castle. She also played in recurring and lead roles in various
television series, among them The Young and the Restless, Unicorn
Plan-It, Vegas (three episodes in ) and Issa Rae's The Choir (
episodes in ). Regarding live television performances, her first was
in NY in , when she performed in a televised production of Camelot
with the New York Philharmonic. In , she performed onstage in the
Oscars (th annual Academy Awards), hosted by Seth MacFarlane, with the
lead cast of the film Les Misérables.
best known for her lead roles in Rizzoli & Isles and Turn:
Washington's Spies.Idara Victor was born in Brooklyn, New York, to
Barbara and Stan Victor, both from Akwa Ibom State in southern
Nigeria, and she is the middle child of three girls, who grew up in
Brooklyn and Long Island. Idara "was probably the loudest of the
siblings", and started dancing and playing piano at the age of eight,
that led to her singing an opera aria for the first time at the age of
in a state competition and exhibition. At the age of she won the
Miss New York Junior Teen contest. She was discovered by an agent at a
fashion show commitment, and pushed towards a career in modeling, but
she intended to pursue an acting career. As a result of her academic
achievements, she was enrolled in the undergrad program of the Wharton
School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where she
studied entrepreneurial management and marketing. With friends she
performed plays in parks around Philadelphia and studied acting
privately, going to a few professional auditions and booking work
while she was home in New York on summer breaks.At UPENN she still
performed Shakespeare readings and danced with the acclaimed dance
troupe African Rhythms West African ballet and Afro-Cuban dance on her
free time. When Victor graduated, she left a job offer at InStyle
magazine, started making music with her friend Mike "Double-O" (Kidz
In The Hall), and began training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre
Institute, a conservatory of the Tisch School of the Arts. She
developed her artist community with many friends from the NYU program,
and her friend Hyun Kim linked her up with the Nigerian-American
actress Adepero Oduye for mentoring support. To finance her studies,
Idara provided an online clothing store called Girled-Out, and also
trained daily with actors from all over the world. As she watched Cate
Blanchett in a movie, "the truth would grip me, I would think, I'm
dying â€" my heart has definitely stopped, and if I don't get to get
up there and do it too, I might as well just keep it off permanently."
Now in New York City, John Caird introduced her into the New York
theatre scene straight out of college, hiring Victor for her first
Broadway show that fall, in the revival of Les Misérables â€" "an
amazing thing I learned was that when I went on as Cosette, I was the
first African-American woman to ever play the role in the show's
years of running". Idara Victor continued training and working in New
York, and soon booked work over the next two years at The Public
Theater (The Bacchae), Lincoln Center (Happiness), and the Roundabout
Theater Company (The Tin Pan Alley Rag), to work with the directors
Susan Stroman, Joanne Akalaitis, James Lapine, Stafford Arima and Tina
Landau. Idara Victor is a natural operatic soprano, also sang Joplin's
ragtime opera Treemonisha, and performed at the th Academy
Awards.While still in her studies, Idara Victor first appeared
onscreen in the indie film Not Just Yet and her first television role
was in the TV series Starved, playing opposite Sterling K. Brown.
During her time at Les Misérables, she also played recurring roles on
Guiding Light and appeared on the television shows Law & Order, Law &
Order: SVU, All My Children and How to Make It in America. After
moving to Los Angeles, she appeared in large roles in hit television
series including Mad Men, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, and
Castle. She also played in recurring and lead roles in various
television series, among them The Young and the Restless, Unicorn
Plan-It, Vegas (three episodes in ) and Issa Rae's The Choir (
episodes in ). Regarding live television performances, her first was
in NY in , when she performed in a televised production of Camelot
with the New York Philharmonic. In , she performed onstage in the
Oscars (th annual Academy Awards), hosted by Seth MacFarlane, with the
lead cast of the film Les Misérables.
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