HBS 029 Interview with Sandi McCree | Actress On BET - The New Edition Story, & HBO's The Wire (aka Delonda Brice)
Actress, youth advocate and educator, Sandi McCree, known for her edgy, street-tough performance as "Delonda Brice" on HBO's The Wire, has been on the front line of arts education and media literacy for over 21 years years.
McCree began acting at age 4 growing up in Washington, D.C. where she gained love for storytelling. She went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio, Film and Television from the University of Maryland and her Master's in acting from Case Western Reserve University. McCree furthered her dramatic studies at the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York and the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England.
It was during her time at Case Western where McCree developed her approach of Multimedia Arts Focused Prevention Education through the formation of her organization The Thought Provoking Arts Company (TPAC). TPAC was commissioned by Case Western Reserve University to develop original arts-based programs aimed at providing prevention awareness activities for the student body with an emphasis on freshmen residents. TPAC's mission to provide comprehensive arts education and art focused prevention programming to children was fulfilled in McCree's work with multiple Ohio Public School Districts, Cuyahoga Community College, the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland Ohio and Pin Points Theatre, a national educational touring company in Washington, DC, where she served as Eastern Regional Director.
Meanwhile, McCree's professional career took two mutually beneficial tracks as actress and arts educator. While performing across the country in stage productions such as The Exonerated, Fires in the Mirror and the one woman show The Gimmick, McCree was simultaneously writing and presenting on childhood education. She co-authored Artful Strategies for Prevention Education Group Work with Adolescent African-American Girls at the 23rd International Symposium on Social Work with Groups and in 1999 presented Using a Psychosocial Network to Empower Parents of Children with Sickle Cell Anemia to Maximize Life's Opportunities for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. McCree's work on stage and in education led to her serving as Media Liaison for the National Black Media Coalition.
Her TV credits include The Closer Cold Case and Criminal Minds yet it is her work on HBO's The Wire that embodies the marriage of her passion for acting/storytelling with youth advocacy. Against type, McCree portrays "Delonda Brice," a villainous, misguided mother who would rather see her son selling drugs on the streets in order to support her ghetto fabulous lifestyle than attend and excel at school. Such a character couldn't be further from McCree's own and she's been able to use this deviant role as a platform for her dedication to the supportive development of young minds.
McCree was a Producer of "BeBop to Hip-Hop" an educational performance at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz were she holds the position of Special Projects Coordinator. She recently appeared in the award-winning documentary "Keep On Keepin On" produced by the legendary Quincy Jones.
Sandi performs weekly with several improv troupes including Most Humble. She can be seen weekly at such venues as: The Groundlings Theater, Second City, iO West, The Clubhouse, Asylum Lab, Danger Room and Neon Venus. In November 2013, Most Humble is the 8-time defending champion of Second City Hollywood's Thunderdome Improv Cagematch show. In the Summer of 2015, Sandi McCree was invited to join the prestigious Sunday Company at The Groundlings.
Sandi McCree is has taught and directed students at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and she teaches theatre arts at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
Links to Sandi McCree:
Twitter @SandiMcCree
Instagram @sandimccree
BET.com: The New Edition Story
The Wire on HBO: The WIRE
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