Groundbreaking performer Ali Stroker won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Ado Annie in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! She made history as the first actor using a wheelchair to appear on Broadway when she originated Anna’s role in Deaf West’s acclaimed 2015 revival of Spring Awakening.

Ali earned a Barrymore Award nomination for starring as Olive in Philadelphia Theatre Company’s production The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  Philadelphia Theatre Company prioritized accessibility when building the Suzanne Roberts Theatre and so we are even more thrilled that she made history on our own stage in the early days of her career. (She was also the first actress using a wheelchair to graduate from NYU’s Tisch drama program.)

In addition to her work on and off-Broadway, she’s had solo performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, New York’s Town Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

She starred in 12 episodes of the talent competition, The Glee Project, leading to a guest role on Fox’s Glee. She had a recurring role in the Kyra Sedgwick ABC series, Ten Days in the Valley, and guest-starred on Freeform’s The Bold Type, Fox’s Lethal Weapon, CBS’ Instinct, The CW’s Charmed and Comedy Central’s Drunk History.

Stroker has been a co-chair of Women Who Care, which supports the United Cerebral Palsy of New York City. She co-founded Be More Heroic, an anti-bullying campaign that tours the country connecting with thousands of students each year. She’s led theater workshops for South African women and children affected by HIV and AIDS with ARTS InsideOut.

Ali’s dedication to improving lives through the arts, disabled or not, is captured in her motto: “Making Your Limitations Your Opportunities.”