Early life and education

Thoms was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mariana (Davis) and Donald H. Thoms, a VP of Programming at PBS and television director. She has a younger brother, Austin. She started studying acting at age 10 and later on attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.

She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Howard University in 1997. She then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 30 (1997-2001), which also included actors Lee Pace and Anthony Mackie.

Career

Thoms is known for her role of Mahandra McGinty in the television show Wonderfalls. She also played the part of Sasha in the US version of the T.V. 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 homicide 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 Broadway production of Rent but, now at age 43, was deemed too old to reprise the role. Prior to being cast as Joanne, Thoms had considered herself a fan of the show, having seen it on Broadway several times.

She was featured in the 2002 Comedy Central film Porn 'n Chicken and the 2004 films Brother to Brother and The Warrior Class. Thoms appeared in the 2006 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. She appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, alongside Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

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 CenterStage) Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Rep), The Exonerated (Off Broadway's The Culture Project) and The Antigone Project (The Women's Project). On July 18, 2008, she joined the final cast of Rent starting July 26, 2008, reprising the character of Joanne, replacing Merle Dandridge. The final performance was made into a DVD: Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway.

Thoms reprised her role as Joanne for another production of Rent, directed by Neil Patrick Harris, at the Hollywood Bowl from August 6-8, 2010.

In the fall of 2010 she appeared in the concert revue For The Record: Quentin Tarantino in Los Angeles, presented by ROCKLA for Show at Barre. It ran from August 12, 2010, to October 30, 2010, and also starred Jenna Leigh Green, Autumn Reeser, Ty Taylor, and Audra Mae. From November 2010 through January 2011, Thoms starred in Show At Barre's For The Record: John Hughes, alongside Barrett Foa, Von Smith and Ty Taylor. In 2011 she appeared at Show At Barre in the revue For the Record: Baz Luhrmann, from February 12, 2011, to June 30, 2011, with Jenna Leigh Green, Arielle Jacobs, Tinuke Oyefule and Kate Reinders.

She played Etta, Diana's personal assistant, in NBC's Wonder Woman pilot.

Thoms had a role in the 2014 version of Annie, playing Annie's "fake mother", a character based on Lily St. Regis in the original musical.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Brother to Brother	Mother
2005	Everyone's Depressed	Crystal
2005	Rent	Joanne Jefferson
2006	Devil Wears Prada, TheThe Devil Wears Prada	Lily
2007	Warrior Class, TheThe Warrior Class	Thelma Rosbach	Video
2007	Descent	Denise
2007	Death Proof	Kim
2007	Sex and Breakfast	Sarah
2008	Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway	Joanne Jefferson
2009	Peter and Vandy	Marissa
2009	Good Hair	Herself
2011	I Will Follow	Tiffany
2012	Safe House	CIA Analyst
2012	Meeting Evil	Latisha Rogers
2012	Looper	Beatrix
2013	Raze	Teresa
2014	Annie	Annie's 'Mom'

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	America's Most Terrible Things	Terri	TV movie
2002	As If	Sasha	7 episodes
2002	Porn 'n Chicken	Andrea	TV movie
2003	Shield, TheThe Shield	Bonnie	Episode: "Dominoes Falling"
2004	Wonderfalls	Mahandra McGinty	12 episodes
2005	Law & Order	Linda Ziman	Episode: "Mammon"
2005	Independent Lens	Mom on Subway	Episode: "Brother to Brother"
2005-2010	Cold Case	Kat Miller	103 episodes
2008	This Can't Be My Life	Rachel Brooks	Episode: "The Pink Pages"
2009	Private Practice	Colette	Episode: "Pushing the Limits"
2010	Human Target	Michelle	Episode: "Dead Head"
2011	Wonder Woman	Etta Candy	TV pilot
2011	Suits	Becky	Episode: "Tricks of the Trade"
2011	Bandwagon: The Series	Tracie Thoms	11 episodes
2011	Harry's Law	Katherine	4 episodes
2013	Emily Owens M.D.	Natalia Gorgia	Episode "Emily and... The Teapot"
2013	Gothica	Mina	Character based on Mina Harker
2013	Person of Interest	Monica Jacobs	Episode "Trojan Horse"
2014	Veep	Alicia Bryce	Episode: "Alicia"
2014	Catfish: The TV Show	Herself	Season 3, Episode 5
2016	Love	Susan Cheryl	5 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Drowning Crow	Mary Bow
2008	Rent	Joanne Jefferson	Replacement
2010	Rent	Joanne Jefferson
2011-2012	Stick Fly	Taylor
2014	Lost Lake	Tracie Thoms (herself)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]