Tracie Nicole Thoms (born August 19, 1975) is an American television, film, and stage actress.
Thoms was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland to Mariana and Donald Thoms. She has a brother, Austin. She started studying acting when she was ten and later on attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. She now holds a BFA from Howard University and an MFA in acting from the Juilliard School.
Thoms is known for her role of Mahandra McGinty in the television show Wonderfalls. She also played the part of Sasha in the series "As If", which was cancelled after three episodes. Most recently she has been added to the cast of the CBS crime drama Cold Case, as the narcotics detective, Kat Miller. Thoms has also made guest appearances on Law & Order and The Shield.
Thoms has appeared in several movies, most notably in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Rent in which she plays Joanne Jefferson, lawyer and lover of Maureen Johnson (Idina Menzel). She took over the role from Fredi Walker, who played Joanne in the original Rent Broadway show and who decided not to reprise her role due to her age. Prior to being cast as Joanne, she had been a big RENThead (a rent fan) herself and had seen it in Broadway several times. She had also been auditioning for the role in the theatre production for twelve years but never got the part.
She was featured in the 2002 Comedy Central film chicken club and the 2004 films Brother to Brother and The Warrior Class. Thoms appeared in the 2006 release of the film version of The Devil Wears Prada as Lily. Thoms has completed filming on the City Lights Pictures movie Descent along with Rent co-stars Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Rosario Dawson and will soon begin filming Jimmie with co-stars Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight. Recently, she was added to the cast of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez horror film collaboration Grind House, where she will once again team up with Rosario Dawson.
Thoms made her Broadway debut in Regina Taylor's Drowning Crow. She has also appeared in several off-Broadway and regional productions, including Up Against the Wind (New York Theater Workshop), The Oedipus Plays (The Shakespeare Theater), A Raisin in the Sun (Baltimore Center Stage), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Rep), The Exonerated (Off Broadway's The Culture Project) and The Antigone Project (The Women's Project).
