Artist Bio

(Bio as of August 2013)

Cleavant Derricks created the role of James Thunder Early in Dreamgirls, for which he won Tony and Drama Desk awards, as well as the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for vocal arrangements. He was awarded the NAACP Theatre Award for his lead roles in The Full Monty and Debbie Allen’s Twist. He starred in Bob Fosse’s Broadway production of Big Deal, for which he was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards for Best Actor. Other Broadway credits include Hair; Vinnette Carroll’s Your Arms Too Short to Box with God; But Never Jam Today and Brooklyn the Musical. Mr. Derricks was awarded the Heroes and Legends Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre; served as composer, musical director and featured actor for the musical When Hell Freezes Over, I’ll Skate, which aired as a PBS special; and starred in Cy Coleman’s Like Jazz at the Mark Taper Forum. Film roles include Moscow on the Hudson, The Slugger’s Wife, Off Beat, Carnival of Souls, Bluffing It, Miami Magma, Basilisk: The Serpent King and World Traveler. He has appeared on television as a series regular in Sliders, Thea, Drexell’s Class, Good Sports and Woops!, and as a guest star on Touched by an Angel, Charmed, The Practice, The Bernie Mac Show, Cold Case and David E. Kelley’s The Wedding Bells.