Biography

Actress, dancer, vocalist, and choreographer best describe Hope Clarke, who began her career performing in "West Side Story". She has appeared in seven other Broadway shows that include "Purlie", "Hallelujah Baby", and "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope". As a dancer she has toured internationally with Alvin Ailey and Black Nativity, and with the legendary Katherine Dunham. In addition to her choreography for "Jelly's Last Jam" (for which she and co-choreographer and star of the musical, Gregory Hines were nominated for a Tony Award), she has choreographed such musicals as "The Colored Museum" and "Caucasian Chalk Circle" at the Public Theater. Clarke remains one of the most versatile, and perhaps underrated, performers on the stage and on film.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: L. J. Allen-2

Hope Clarke is an actress, dancer, vocalist, choreographer, and director. Broadway: Jelly's Last Jam (Tony nomination best choreography), The Tempest, Caroline or Change, and A Free Man of Color. Regional: A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage, Ailey Theatre), Fly (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Florida Studio Theatre, St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford's Theatre, Vineyard Playhouse, Crossroads Theatre), The Roads to Home (Primary Stages), Grey Gardens (Center Theatre Group, Bay Street Theatre), Resurrection (Philadelphia Theatre, Hartford Stage), The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove (Goodman Theatre), South Pacific (Pioneer Theatre), The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue (Hartford Stage). Clarke began her career as a dancer and performed on Broadway in West Side Story, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, and Grind, among others. She was the first African-American and first African-American woman to direct and choreograph a major staging of Porgy and Bess (for the Houston Grand Opera).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Official Site Bio