Such a beautiful, historic moment!
Ali Stroker took home the 2019 Tony Award for featured actress in a musical during Sunday night’s ceremony for her take on Ado Annie Carnes in the Oklahoma! musical revival.
The crowd gave the actress, who became the first actor in a wheelchair in Broadway history in 2015, a standing ovation as she emotionally made her way to the stage, where she delivered an inspiring speech about overcoming limitations.
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She told the crowd — and, more importantly, those watching at home:
“Thank you, thank you so much. This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, a limitation, a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena. You are.”
AH-Mazing!
Stroker got her start in 2012 on the competition show The Glee Project before taking Broadway by storm years later.
She became the first actor in a wheelchair to be nominated for a Tony Award earlier this year, and made history all over again with her win on Sunday night!
Recently, the performer gave an interview with Vulture where she opened up about the opportunity to play a sexually-charged character — a quality that’s not usually represented on screen or stage for people in wheelchairs.
She told the publication:
“I think that this role has come at such an important time in my life both as an actress and as a person, because I feel like I have arrived in my sexual power, meaning that I feel the most confident I’ve ever felt in my life. Especially growing up and as a teenager, I was always looking for role models who were in chairs.”
She continued:
“I always felt like a sexual person — I just didn’t know how to always portray that, and I never really was sure, as a kid, if being in a wheelchair could be sexy. So, to arrive at this point is so exciting — more than exciting, it’s like a relief in many ways. Because finally we get to see someone who is so real.”
Way to trail blaze, gurl!
So happy for her success!
[Image via WENN]
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