Ali Stroker is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for being the first actress who uses a wheelchair to appear on Broadway, and the first to be nominated for and win a Tony Award.
Stroker was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on June 16, 1987. She was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of two in a car accident. Despite her disability, Stroker has always been passionate about performing. She attended Ridgewood High School, where she was senior class president and starred in school musicals. She then went on to study acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2009.
After graduating from NYU, Stroker starred on the second season of the reality TV show The Glee Project. She finished the competition in second place, but she was awarded a guest role on the Fox musical series Glee. She also had recurring roles on the ABC drama series Ten Days in the Valley and the CBS crime drama series Instinct.
In 2015, Stroker made history when she was cast as Anna in the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening on Broadway. She became the first actress who uses a wheelchair to appear on Broadway. Her performance was critically acclaimed, and she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
In 2019, Stroker won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Ado Annie in the revival of Oklahoma! on Broadway. She became the first actress who uses a wheelchair to win a Tony Award.