Actress Ali Stroker made history last night, becoming the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award thanks to her performance in the Broadway revival of musicalThe 31-year-old, the first actress who uses a wheelchair for mobility reasons known to have appeared on the Broadway stage, won Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her performance as Ado Annie.
Taking to the stage, Stroker made a rousing speech about the representation of people with disabilities. "This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation, who has a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena. You are," she said to mass applause from the crowd at Radio City Music Hall in New York.Born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Stroker was just two years old when a car accident left her with a spinal cord injury, paralyzing her from the chest down.
Her disability did not stop her dream of becoming an actress, and in 2009 she became the first actress who uses a wheelchair to earn a degree from the New York University Tisch Drama Department.
"I feel like musical theater is beginning to do more than entertain, like to challenge people's thoughts and perspectives," she said."All the representation is really important and so essential to art making. And for audiences, it's really refreshing to see all kinds of people being represented in roles that maybe we've only seen in one way for so long," Stroker added.
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👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍🏻 Don’t care about any actor. Hollywood sucks. The sky is the limit when you truly believe in yourself!!!! 😍😍😍😍
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