Rebecca Naomi Jones

Rebecca Naomi Jones is an American actress and singer best known for her performances in the Broadway rock musicals Passing Strange, American Idiot, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as well as being the first woman of color to play Laurey in Oklahoma! on Broadway. She also starred more recently in New York City's Shakespeare in the Park adaptation of As You Like It. Jones was born in New York City to a musician father and photographer mother. Her mother is Jewish and her father is African-American. Jones performed in the children's chorus of the Metropolitan Opera as a child and graduated from the Berkeley Carroll School in 1999. She received her BFA in drama from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and appeared in the national tours of Rent and Caroline, or Change. In addition to her Broadway work, Jones has also appeared in numerous television shows and films, including Genius: Aretha, High Maintenance, Someone Great, and Black Cake. She is also a frequent collaborator with the Civilians Theater Company, where she has appeared in several original productions.