Celia Rose Gooding

Celia Rose Gooding (; born February 22, 2000) is an American actor and singer. They made their Broadway debut and rose to prominence for the role of Mary Frances "Frankie" Healy in the rock musical Jagged Little Pill for which they won a 2021 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and were nominated for a 2020 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, becoming one of the youngest nominees in the category at age 20. Their mother is LaChanze, an American actress, singer, and dancer. Gooding plays the role of Nyota Uhura in the Paramount+ original series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022present). Early life and education Gooding was raised in New York, New York. They were born to actress, singer and dancer LaChanze, and Calvin Gooding, who died in the September 11th attacks. They have one sister, Zaya. Gooding attended the Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York, with their sister and graduated with honors in performing arts. They occasionally took leaves of absence from high school to do readings for the musical Jagged Little Pill, which they were also involved in developing. In the workshop during their junior year, they had three hours of tutoring in the morning before rehearsals, to replace regular schooling. Their senior project revolved around their participation in the show's out-of-town tryout at the end of their senior year. Their other training included studying dance at the Alvin Ailey Institute and studying acting and film with a concentration in Shakespeare at the Berridge Conservatory in Normandy. In 2018, Gooding began attending Pace University. Initially double majoring in musical theatre and child psychology, they dropped the latter major during their second and final semester. They left Pace after their freshman year, as rehearsals for the Broadway run of Jagged Little Pill started in September 2019.