- He played the original Wiz in "The Wiz" on 1970s Broadway.
- De Shields made his Broadway debut in 1973 in "Warp". That same year, he choreographed Bette Midler's "Clams on the Half Shell" Broadway show.
- African-American Broadway actor, singer, writer, composer, lyricist, choreographer, director and educator.
- The stage actor has received Tony Award nominations for "The Full Monty" and "Play On!"; the Joseph Jefferson Award and the Black Theatre Alliance Ira Aldridge Award for "Play On!"; and a 1982 Emmy Award for "Ain't Misbehavin'." He has also received Audience Development Committee Awards for "Saint Tous" and Joseph Jefferson Awards for direction of "The Colored Museum", acting in "Dream On Monkey Mountain" and direction and choreography for "Blackberries". He has been nominated for several Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards.
- De Shields has been the Harold Clurman Visiting Professor at the City University of New York-Hunter College and an adjunct professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. He has also been a distinguished visiting professor at Southern Methodist University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga.
- A 1970 University of Wisconsin graduate, he was awarded his doctorate in 2004.
- Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical): in 1997 for "Play On!" and in 2001 for "The Full Monty."
- He was awarded the 1988 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Revue for "The Colored Museum", at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
- He was nominated for a 1995 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Revue for "The Colored Museum", at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
- He was nominated for a 2013 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Supporting Actor in a Musical for "The Jungle Book" at the Goodman Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.
- Played the title role in a production of "King Lear" in Washington D.C.
- He was awarded the 1998 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for "Play On!", at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
- Raised in Baltimore, André was the ninth of eleven children.
- Parents are Mary Guther, and John De Shields.
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