Spotlight on HAMILTON: Catching Up with The Schuyler Sisters
dive into the careers of the Schuyler Sisters- Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones.
By: Nicole Rosky Jun. 29, 2020
Hamilton is coming! In just a matter of days (July 3), Disney+ will broadcast the hugely-anticipated Hamilton, captured live on stage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2016.
The original Broadway cast appearing in the film include Tony Award winners Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton; Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson; Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler; Leslie Odom, Jr. as Aaron Burr; Tony Award nominees Christopher Jackson as George Washington; Jonathan Groff as King George; Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton; and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds; Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison; and Anthony Ramos as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton.
History may have its eyes on Hamilton, but today, we have our eyes on the history of its stars. Below take a deep dive into the careers of the Schuyler Sisters- Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones.
Renée Elise Goldsberry was born in San Jose, California and raised in Houston, Texas and Detroit, Michigan. She attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater and later received a Masters of Music in jazz studies from the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.
In the late 90s, Goldsberry appeared in 43 episodes of the Fox legal comedy-drama Ally McBeal. She also portrayed attorney Evangeline Williamson on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in both 2006 and 2007 for the role. She had a recurring role as assistant state attorney Geneva Pine on the CBS political drama The Good Wife. Goldsberry has also made guest appearances on Evil, Star Trek: Enterprise, Royal Pains, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Younger, Masters of Sex, and That 80's Show.
Goldsberry made her Broadway debut as a replacement Nala in The Lion King. In 2005, she originated the role of Nettie Harris in The Color Purple, the Broadway musical adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name. Goldsberry returned to the Off-Broadway stage in The Baker's Wife in 2007, before taking over the role of Mimi Márquez in the Broadway musical Rent, making her the final actress to play the role on Broadway.
Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, through the show's off-Broadway debut and Broadway transfer, playing her last performance in the role on September 3, 2016. She won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2016 and also received a Grammy Award after the original cast album won Best Musical Theater Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards.
In 2017, Goldsberry starred as the title character in the HBO television film adaptation of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. She recently appeared in the Netflix science fiction series Altered Carbon as Quellcrist Falconer.
A graduate of The Juilliard School's acting program, Phillipa Soo was cast as Natasha Rostova in the off Broadway production of Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, based on Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.
After seeing her performance, Thomas Kail and Lin-Manuel Miranda asked her to take part in an early 2014 reading of Hamilton. Soo remained with the show through its Off-Broadway and Broadway debuts and received a 2016 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.
After Hamilton, Soo went on to appear as the title role in Amélie on Broadway in 2017.
Later that year, she made her Broadway play debut as Rebecca in The Parisian Woman, by Beau Willimon.
Soo has also had a recurring role on NBC's Smash and voiced various characters in the Disney film Moana. She currently stars as Lieutenant Harper Li in the CBS series The Code.
Daughter of actor Ron Cephas Jones and British-born jazz singer Kim Lesley, Jasmine Cephas Jones attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and graduated from Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 2011.
Jones has made small appearances in multiple independent films, including Titus, Fairfield and Mistress America. She has also appeared in episodes of Blue Bloods and Unforgettable.
In 2015, she originated the dual role of Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds in the off-Broadway production of Hamilton, and moved to Broadway with the show later that year. She remained with the production until December 8, 2016.
In 2018, she became engaged to fellow Hamilton original Broadway cast member Anthony Ramos.
Earlier this year, she released a single from her new EP, "Little Bird".
Sign up for Disney+ today for your chance to catch Leslie and even more of the original cast of Broadway's biggest hit from home on July 3!
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