Kara Young (actress)

Kara Young (actress)

Kara Young is an American actress. Known for her dynamic roles on stage both on Broadway and off-Broadway, she has received various accolades, including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and an Obie Award. Having won the Tony Award in (/wiki/77thTonyAwards) and (/wiki/78thTonyAwards), she is the first Black actress to be Tony-nominated in four consecutive years ((/wiki/75thTonyAwards), (/wiki/76thTonyAwards), 2024, 2025) for Best Featured Actress in a Play and the first African-American actress to win two consecutive Tonys.

Young studied at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts before making her stage debut in Patricia Ione Lloyd's play Pretty Hunger (2016) at the Public Theater. The following year, 2017, she joined the LAByrinth Theater Company. She gained acclaim for portraying Viola in the 2022 off-Broadway revival of William Shakespeare's romantic play Twelfth Night at the Classical Theatre of Harlem.

She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in two consecutive years for playing a naive former servant in the Ossie Davis satirical play Purlie Victorious (2024) and a pregnant lesbian in the Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play Purpose (2025). She was Tony-nominated for her roles as a sandwich maker in Lynn Nottage's play Clyde's (2022) and a caretaker in Martyna Majok's dramatic play Cost of Living (2023).

Early life and education

Kara Young (actress)

Young was born and raised in Harlem in New York City. Both of her parents immigrated from Belize. Her father, Klay Young, began working in the Rainbow Room in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1992 as a server; he was later promoted to captain. (In 2022, Kara attended a special event there as a Tony Award nominee). Her mother worked in health administration at Bellevue Hospital.

Young had an interest in performing from the age of five, when she learned to mime in an afterschool program at the 92nd Street Y. She briefly went to Gettysburg College and the City College of New York before studying at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, where she graduated. She studied traditional theater in Thailand for a month in 2008.

Career

Kara Young (actress)

Young joined the LAByrinth Theater Company in 2017. She has appeared off-Broadway in plays such as NSangou Njikam's Syncing Ink, Jonathan Payne's The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd, Stephen Adly Guirgis's Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven (a LAByrinth co-production), Jeff Augustin's The New Englanders, and C.A. Johnson's All the Natalie Portmans. A New York Times review of her starring role in All the Natalie Portmans said that Young "can fit what feels like a mountain of blood, heart, sinew and febrile emotional response into a frame that can't stretch past five feet". Young often plays characters much younger than herself, adolescents or even preadolescents, aided by her small size and wide-set eyes.

In November 2021, Young made her Broadway debut at the Hayes Theater playing a single mother, Letitia, in Lynn Nottage's play Clyde's. The Times called her performance "superb". At the 75th Tony Awards, she was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Clyde's.

In 2022, Young played a caregiver, Jess, in Martyna Majok's play Cost of Living at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway. At the 76th Tony Awards, she was again nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Cost of Living. In 2023 she portrayed Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins in the revival of the Ossie Davis play Purlie Victorious on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2024. In 2025 she won the Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony Award for her work in Purpose, which made her the first black performer to win acting Tony Awards consecutively. Because she was previously nominated for that award, she was also the first black performer to get four consecutive Tony nominations.

In 2026, Young joined the cast of the Broadway revival of Proof as Claire, starring alongside Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle at the Booth Theatre.

Acting credits

Kara Young (actress)

Kara Young at the 2024 Tony Awards

Film

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Title</th><th>Role</th><th>Director</th><th>Notes</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2018</td><td>Hair Wolf</td><td>Cami</td><td>Mariama Diallo</td><td>Short film</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020</td><td>Chemical Hearts</td><td>La</td><td>Richard Tanne</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>King of Knives</td><td>Darla</td><td>Jon Delgado</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2021</td><td>After Yang</td><td>Erin</td><td>Kogonada</td><td>Uncredited</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2022</td><td>Master</td><td>Sascha</td><td>Mariama Dillo</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>F^¢k 'Em R!ght B@¢k</td><td>Yolanda</td><td>Harris Doran</td><td>Short film</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2023</td><td>Blow Up My Life</td><td>Charlie August</td><td>Abigail Horton / Ryan Dickie</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2024</td><td>We Strangers</td><td>Mari Winters</td><td>Anu Valia</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2026</td><td>I Love Boosters</td><td></td><td>Boots Riley</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Is God Is</td><td>Racine the Rough One</td><td>Aleshea Harris</td><td>Completed</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Television

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Title</th><th>Role</th><th>Notes</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2018</td><td>Random Acts of Flyness</td><td>Janelle</td><td>Episode: "They Got Some St That'll Blow Out Our Back"</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2019</td><td>The Other Two</td><td>VMA Announcer</td><td>Episode: "Chase Performs at the VMAs"</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Punisher</td><td>Wendy</td><td>2 episodes</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020</td><td>Bite Size Halloween</td><td>Billie</td><td>Episode: "First Date"</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2022</td><td>The Staircase</td><td>Yasmine</td><td>2 episodes</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2023</td><td>I'm a Virgo</td><td>Jones</td><td>7 episodes</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2024</td><td>Great Performances</td><td>Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins</td><td>Episode: "Purlie Victorious"</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Theatre

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Title</th><th>Role</th><th>Venue</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2016</td><td>Pretty Hunger</td><td>Lea</td><td>The Public Theater</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>In the Event of My Death</td><td>Kate</td><td>IRT Theatre</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2017</td><td>Syncing Ink</td><td>Sweet Tea</td><td>Alley Theatre The Flea Theater</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2018</td><td>The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd</td><td>Karma</td><td>The Duke on 42nd Street</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2019</td><td>The New Englanders</td><td>Eisa</td><td>New York City Center</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven</td><td>Lil Melba Diaz</td><td>Linda Gross Theatre</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020</td><td>All the Natalie Portmans</td><td>Keyonna</td><td>Susan and Ronald Frankel Theater</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2021–2022</td><td>Clyde's</td><td>Letitia</td><td>Hayes Theater, Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2022</td><td>Twelfth Night</td><td>Viola</td><td>Classical Theatre of Harlem</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Cost of Living</td><td>Jess</td><td>Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway</td><td>'</td></tr><tr><td>2023–2024</td><td>Purlie Victorious</td><td>Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins</td><td>Music Box Theater, Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2024</td><td>The Apiary</td><td>Zora</td><td>Tony Kiser Theatre, Off-Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Syncing Ink</td><td>Sweet Tea</td><td>Victoria Theater, Off-Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Table 17</td><td>Jada</td><td>MCC Theater, Off-Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2025</td><td>Purpose</td><td>Aziza</td><td>Hayes Theater, Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Gruesome Playground Injuries</td><td>Kayleen</td><td>Lucille Lortel Theatre, Off-Broadway</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2026</td><td>Proof</td><td>Claire</td><td>Booth Theatre, Broadway</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Awards and nominations

Kara Young (actress)

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Association</th><th>Category</th><th>Work</th><th>Result</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2017</td><td>Innovative Theatre Awards</td><td>Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role</td><td>In the Event of My Death</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020</td><td>Antonyo Awards</td><td>Best Actor in a Play Off-Broadway</td><td>All the Natalie Portmans</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Lucille Lortel Awards</td><td>Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>AUDELCO Awards</td><td>Special Achievement Award</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2022</td><td>Lilly Awards</td><td>Stacey Mindich Go Work in Theater Award</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Actors' Equity Foundation Awards</td><td>Clarence Derwent Awards</td><td>Clyde's</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Antonyo Awards</td><td>Best Featured Actor in a Play (Broadway)</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Drama Desk Awards</td><td>Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Tony Awards</td><td>Best Featured Actress in a Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2023</td><td>Obie Awards</td><td>Performance</td><td>Twelfth Night</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Drama Desk Awards</td><td>Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play</td><td>Cost of Living</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Tony Awards</td><td>Best Featured Actress in a Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2024</td><td>Drama League Awards</td><td>Distinguished Performance</td><td>Purlie Victorious</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Drama Desk Awards</td><td>Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Outer Critics Circle Awards</td><td>Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Tony Awards</td><td>Best Featured Actress in a Play</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2025</td><td>Lucille Lortel Awards</td><td>Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play</td><td>Table 17</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Drama League Awards</td><td>Distinguished Performance</td><td>Purpose / Table 17</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Drama Desk Awards</td><td>Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play</td><td>Purpose</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Dorian Awards</td><td>Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Outer Critics Circle Awards</td><td>Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Tony Awards</td><td>Best Featured Actress in a Play</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>