Trivia

African-American Broadway actor, singer, writer, composer, lyricist, choreographer, director and educator.

He played the original Wiz in "The Wiz" on 1970s Broadway.

De Shields made his Broadway debut in 1973 in "Warp". That same year, he choreographed Bette Midler's "Clams on the Half Shell" Broadway show.

He was awarded the 1988 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Revue for "The Colored Museum", at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for a 1995 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Revue for "The Colored Museum", at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for a 2013 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Supporting Actor in a Musical for "The Jungle Book" at the Goodman Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.

The stage actor has received Tony Award nominations for "The Full Monty" and "Play On!"; the Joseph Jefferson Award and the Black Theatre Alliance Ira Aldridge Award for "Play On!"; and a 1982 Emmy Award for "Ain't Misbehavin'." He has also received Audience Development Committee Awards for "Saint Tous" and Joseph Jefferson Awards for direction of "The Colored Museum", acting in "Dream On Monkey Mountain" and direction and choreography for "Blackberries". He has been nominated for several Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards.

A 1970 University of Wisconsin graduate, he was awarded his doctorate in 2004.

He was awarded the 1998 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for "Play On!", at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

De Shields has been the Harold Clurman Visiting Professor at the City University of New York-Hunter College and an adjunct professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. He has also been a distinguished visiting professor at Southern Methodist University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga.

Played the title role in a production of "King Lear" in Washington D.C.

Raised in Baltimore, André was the ninth of eleven children.

Parents are Mary Guther, and John De Shields.

Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical): in 1997 for "Play On!" and in 2001 for "The Full Monty.".

Attended and graduated from The Baltimore City College, a "magnet" specialized selective public high school (then all-male / single sex) in the Class of 1964. The third oldest public high school in America - founded 1839. Focuses advanced secondary school curriculum in the humanities, social studies, liberal arts and the Classics. Located in hilltop large park-like campus of stone Collegiate Gothic architecture with a 150 foot bell & clock tower - built 1924-1928, nicknamed the "Castle on the Hill" . DeShields installed in school's B.C.C. Hall of Fame with many other famous alumni of last 185 years.