Bio
Chandra Wilson is an American actress best known for her role as Dr. Miranda Bailey on the television drama series Grey's Anatomy.
Wilson was born in Houston, Texas. She started her theatre career at the age of five with the Houston-based Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS).
Wilson attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where she earned a BFA in drama.
Wilson's first notable TV role was in the series Bob Patterson, one of the first post-Seinfeld vehicles for Jason Alexander. The 2001 series was short-lived.
She has also appeared on The Cosby Show (her screen acting debut in 1989), Cosby, Third Watch, Law & Order, Sex and the City, The Sopranos and Queens Supreme.
Wilson has had a notable career in the theatre: she had an acclaimed run as Bonna Willis in The Good Times are Killing Me, and was also featured in the Tony-nominated Caroline, or Change, starring Tonya Pinkins.
She is an accomplished singer and has sung in several productions.
The New-York based Wilson was working at her day job at a bank when she auditioned for the role of Miranda Bailey for the pilot of Grey's Anatomy. The role was initially envisoned as a blonde Caucasian woman, but Wilson's audition got her cast in the role.
The show became a breakout hit, and the character of Bailey - referred to as "the Nazi" - is an audience favourite.
Wilson was nominated in 2006 for an Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a drama. She was nominated and won the Screen Actors Guild Award in 2007 for outstanding female actor in a drama series; she also won a SAG Award as part of the Grey's Anatomy cast, which won Best Ensemble in a Drama Series.
She has been married since 1988 and has two daughters and a son.