Actress and director Chandra Danette Wilson was born in the United States on August 27, 1969. She has been nominated four times for an Emmy for most Supporting Actress for her work as Dr. Miranda Bailey in the ABC television program Grey's Anatomy, for which she is most known. On Station 19 and Private Practice, she also portrayed Bailey. In 1991, she made her stage debut in New York and started to get guest appearances on a range of prime-time television programs. She made her on-screen debut in the 1993 movie Philadelphia.
Early Life
Wilson was raised in Houston, Texas, where he was born. Chandra's postal worker mother enrolled her in a variety of after-school activities in order to keep Chandra engaged. Wilson explains that his mother made the decision to keep an active youngster out of the house at the age of four. As a result, I began attending dance lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, acting classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and modeling on Saturdays. And that was my early life. She told Broadway.com in an interview that she saw The King and I for the first time when she was five years old.
Wilson began appearing in musicals at the age of five with the Theatre Under the Stars Company in Houston. She attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston before enrolling at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where she earned a BFA in drama in 1991. She studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute for the following four years, from 1991 to 1995, while also accruing credits in professional theater. She performed in The Good Times Are Killing Me in New York for the first time in 1991, and she was recognized with a Theater World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance. Paper Moon: The Musical and Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway productions are among her other early stage credits.
Wilson started getting guest appearances on a number of prime-time television shows as she was establishing herself on the New York stage. She made appearances on Law & Order (1992), the CBS Schoolbreak Special (1992), and The Cosby Show (1989). In the critically acclaimed 1993 movie Philadelphia, which starred Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, she made her big-screen debut. Wilson, while garnering glowing reviews for almost all of her performances, battled for many years to land more important parts. Wilson worked part-time as a teller at Deutsche Bank for eight years while she strove to become a major celebrity in order to make ends meet.
Wilson's breakthrough performance as Dr. Miranda Bailey on the popular ABC series Grey's Anatomy came in 2005.
Career
Jason Alexander's post-Seinfeld project, Bob Patterson (2001), featured Wilson in his first regular network TV appearance. Wilson was described by Robert Bianco as "the only person in the show you can imagine wanting to see again" in a review for USA Today. The sole amusingly written character in this cast, according to the Los Angeles Times, is Claudia (Chandra Wilson), Bob's new secretary. In addition, she had brief roles in Lone Star (1996) and Third Watch (2001), Law & Order SVU, Sex and the City (2002), and The Sopranos (2004).
Wilson also had a career in theater, appearing in the Tony-nominated musical Caroline, or Change and playing Bonna Willis in the play The Good Times Are Killing Me. Wilson is a skilled performer who has been in a number of plays, including On the Town (1998), Avenue Q (2003), and Caroline, or Change (2004).
Wilson presented for the investment banking divisions while she was a temp at Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown. Until the South Tower of the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, she worked at the Banker's Trust location at 130 Liberty Street, directly across the street. When Wilson went to the Grey's Anatomy pilot audition, she was still employed by a bank. She was cast in the role of Miranda Bailey, which was originally intended for a white, blonde-haired woman. The program was a hit. Wilson received Emmy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. As part of the Grey's Anatomy cast, which won Best Ensemble in a Drama Series, she was nominated for and won the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series.
The seventh episode of Grey's Anatomy's sixth season, "Give Peace a Chance," was Wilson's directorial debut on television. Additionally, she was the director of episode 17, "Push," from the same season as well as episode 5, "Almost Grown," episode 21, "Moment of Truth," episode 6, "Second Opinion," episode 6, and episode 17, "Transplant Wasteland," episode 17 of season 9. The show's creators decided to offer Wilson, a full-figured African-American woman, the part of Dr. Bailey after she delivered such a strong performance during her audition. The part had originally been created for a diminutive, blonde-haired white lady who would supervise the hospital interns. And I know the casting director, she said later in a joke. Wilson's portrayal of the tenacious Dr. Bailey won her high praise. Wilson won four straight NAACP Image Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and was nominated for four straight Emmy Awards (2006-2009). The 2008 People's Choice Award for Favorite Scene-Stealing Star went to her as well. Wilson briefly left Grey's Anatomy in 2009, when she was still a main character, to play Mama Morton in a Broadway revival of Chicago.
According to Wilson, the only distinction between her acting career today and it was ten years ago is that she is now more readily recognized by strangers. She emphasized, "The visibility I have now is the sole change in my work. "People tell me I'm successful now, but I think I was successful doing summer stock," She is also aware of the frailty of her recent fame and success. Wilson was cautious not to cause any rifts when she ultimately left her position at Deutsche Bank to concentrate completely on her part on Grey's Anatomy. They suggested I could return if acting didn't work out, she remarked. I requested that they "Keep my seat warm."
In 2014, Wilson played the patient Tina Estrada in a guest starring role on the ABC Daytime serial series General Hospital. She made her General Hospital debut in 2018 as Dr. Linda Massey. Wilson will appear on General Hospital for a third time as Sydney Val Jean in May 2019, it was revealed in April 2019.
Private life
Wilson referred to herself as "I'm in a relationship but I'm not married" in the May 2007 issue of Parade. As of 2019, she has been married to her partner for 31 years. Wilson and her spouse have three kids: son Michael was born on October 31, 2005, daughter Sarina was born in 1992, and daughter Joylin was born in 1998.
Activism
Wilson is an activist for the cause of cyclic vomiting syndrome and acts as the spokeswoman for the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association, as well as, the celebrity ambassador for CureMito! after her teenage daughter, Sarina, contracted the disease in 2010. Wilson met with the Grey's Anatomy producers for the ninth season and proposed the concept of including cyclic vomiting syndrome in a forthcoming episode. Wilson directed the "Second Opinion" episode, which aired on November 15, 2012.
She also fights for those who have mental illnesses or drug addictions. She presided over the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 10th Annual Voice Awards ceremony in 2015.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1990 | Peer Pressure, Drugs and... You | ||
1993 | Mad Dog and Glory | ||
Philadelphia | Chandra | ||
1996 | Lone Star | Athena | |
2003 | Head of State | Jaime | Uncredited |
2005 | I Love the 80's 3-D | Herself | |
2008 | A Single Woman | Coretta Scott King | |
2010 | Frankie and Alice | Maxine | |
2018 | Christmas Harmony | Karen |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1989 | The Cosby Show | Dina | Episode: "The Lost Weekend" |
1991 | Sesame Street | Teenage Student | Episode: "Telly Monster follows Gordon to school for a "Wide World of Sesame Street" report" |
1992 | CBS Schoolbreak Special | Gloria | Episode: "Sexual Considerations" |
Law & Order | Serena Price | Episode: "Cradle to Grave" | |
2000 | Cosby | Unknown | Episode: "It's a Wonderful Wife" |
2001 | Third Watch | Volunteer | Episode: "Man Enough" |
100 Centre Street | Unknown | Episode: "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" | |
Bob Patterson | Claudia | Unknown episodes | |
2002 | Sex and the City | Police Officer | Episode: "Anchors Away" |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Nurse Jenkins | Episode: "Waste" | |
2003 | Queens Supreme | Dolores | Episode: "The House Next Door" |
2004 | The Sopranos | Evelyn Greenwood | Episode: "Cold Cuts" |
2005 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Rachel Sorannis | Episode: "911" |
2005–present | Grey's Anatomy | Dr. Miranda Bailey | Main Cast (Season 1–present) |
2008 | Sesame Street | Herself | Episode: Number 6 Games |
Accidental Friendship | Yvonne | Made-for-TV movie directed by Don McBrearty | |
2009 | Private Practice | Dr. Miranda Bailey | 2 episodes |
2014 | General Hospital | Tina Estrada | 1 episode |
2018 | Dr. Linda Massey | 1 episode | |
2019 | Sydney Val Jean | 1 episode | |
2018–present | Station 19 | Dr. Miranda Bailey | Recurring; 13 episodes |
2021 | Celebrity Wheel of Fortune | Herself | Episode: "Leslie Jones, Chandra Wilson and Tony Hawk" |
Director
Year | Title | Episode | ||
2009–present | Grey's Anatomy | "Give Peace a Chance" (2009) "Push" (2010) "Almost Grown" (2010) "White Wedding" (2011) "Take the Lead" (2011) "Moment of Truth" (2012) "Second Opinion" (2012) "Transplant Wasteland" (2013) "I Want You with Me" (2013) "Do You Know?" (2014) "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (2015) "With or Without You" (2015) "My Next Life" (2016) "I Wear the Face" (2016) "Both Sides Now" (2016) "In the Air Tonight" (2017) "Go Big or Go Home" (2017) "Games People Play" (2018) "Everyday Angel" (2018) "We Didn't Start the Fire" (2019) "Breath Again" (2019) "Hotter Than Hell" (2021) "Stronger Than Hate" (2022) | ||
2015–2017 | The Fosters | "Daughters" (2015) "Highs & Lows" (2016) "Chasing Waterfalls" (2017) | ||
2015 | Scandal | "Get Out of Jail, Free" (2015) | ||
2019-2022 | Good Trouble | "Twenty-Fine" (2019) "Wake Up For Your Reverie" (2022) | ||
Stage
Year | Show | Role | Theatre | Notes |
1991 | The Good Times are Killing Me | Bonna Willis | Second Stage Theater | Original |
1998 | On the Town | Woman of Carnegie Hall, Flossie's Friend, Person of New York, Lucy Schmeeler understudy | Gershwin Theatre | Original |
2003 | Avenue Q | Gary Coleman understudy | John Golden Theatre | |
2004 | Caroline, or Change | Dotty Moffett | Eugene O'Neill Theatre | Original |
2009 | Chicago | Matron "Mama" Morton | Ambassador Theatre |
Awards and nominations
Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
1991 | Theatre World Awards | Performance as Bonna Willis | The Good Times are Killing Me | Won |
2006 | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated |
Image Awards | Nominated | |||
2007 | BET Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | |
Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Image Awards | Won | |||
Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Television Vision/Mini-Series | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Won | ||
Outstanding Cast in a Drama Series | Won | |||
2008 | BET Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | |
Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Image Awards | Won | |||
People's Choice Awards | Favorite Scene Stealing Star | Won | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Television Vision/Mini-Series | Nominated | ||
Best Ensemble Cast in a Series | Won | |||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Cast in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
2009 | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie | Accidental Friendship | Nominated | ||
Image Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Grey's Anatomy | Won | |
Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series/Television Movie | Accidental Friendship | Nominated | ||
2010 | Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | "Give Peace a Chance" (Grey's Anatomy) | Won | |
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated | ||
2011 | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
2012 | Nominated | |||
2013 | Nominated | |||
2014 | Nominated | |||
2022 | Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series | Nominated |
Quick Bio
Nickname | Chandra |
Gender | Female |
Age | 53 years old (in 2023) |
Date of Birth | August 27, 1969 |
Full Name | Chandra Danette Wilson |
Profession | Actress, Director |
Nationality | American |
Birthplace | Houston, Texas, United States |
Religion | Christianity |
Zodiac Sign | Virgo |
School | Tisch School Of The Arts |
College | New York University |
Profession | Actress, Director |
Net Worth | USD $10 Million approx |
Height, Weight & Physical Stats
Body Measurements | 40-30-41 Inches |
Bodytype | Slim |
Height | 5 Feet 6 Inches (1.52 m) |
Weight | 67 kg (148 lbs) |
Waist | 30 Inches |
Hair Color | Black |
Eye Color | Black |
Shoe Size | 8 US |
Dress Size | 4 US |
Family & Relatives
Mother | Wilma Bradshaw Allen |
Marital Status | Married |
No. of Children | 3 |
Son | Michael Wilson |
Daughter | Serena Wilson, Joy Wilson |
Fact
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