Cheryl Lynn Bruce

Cheryl Lynn Bruce is an acclaimed actress and director with an extensive career spanning regional theaters, international stages in Europe and Mexico, and notable film and television roles. She originated the role of Elizabeth Sandry in Steppenwolf Theatre’s Tony Award-winning production of The Grapes of Wrath, directed by Frank Galati, which played at the Cort Theatre in New York, the National Theatre in the UK, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Her film credits include Stranger Than Fiction, Daughters of the Dust, and The Fugitive, while her television appearances feature Prison Break, There Are No Children Here, Separate but Equal, and To Sir with Love, 2.

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As a director, Cheryl has helmed a variety of productions such as Splash Hatch on the E Going Down (Definition Theatre; Next Act Theatre), La Havana Madrid (South Coast Repertory), Written by Phillis (Quintessence Theatre), The House of the Negro Insane (Contemporary American Theatre Festival, National Black Theatre Festival), Yemanja featuring Angelique Kidjo (Kennedy Center, Broad Stage, Cal Performances at Berkeley, Mass MOCA), and Pipeline (Victory Gardens Theatre). A dedicated member of Teatro Vista, she developed and directed Sandra Delgado’s La Havana Madrid for its premieres at Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and several other Chicago venues.

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Cheryl’s work has earned her numerous accolades, including two Helen Hayes Awards for Best Supporting Actress (2019) and Outstanding Lead Actress (1991). She has also been honored with a Rauschenberg residency, a Yale University Art Gallery residency, the Jane Addams Hull House Association’s Woman of Valor Award, and a 3Arts Award for her contributions as a theatre artist and educator. An inaugural fellow of the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago, Cheryl studied Bunraku puppetry in Japan to inform her staging of Rythm Mastr, Kerry James Marshall’s urban comic. Her poetical essay Some Ra, on the Afro-Futurist musician and philosopher Sun Ra, is featured in the anthology Traveling the Spaceways: Sun-Ra, the Astro Black and Other Solar Myths.