Felicia Fields

Actress Felicia Fields was born on March 31, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Chicago’s Olive-Harvey College.

While singing in the choir at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, Fields recorded for the musical Stones. She was later cast in a production of the musical at Chicago’s Bailiwick Theater. In 1986, Fields was cast in Marriott Theater Lincolnshire’s production of the musical The Wiz as Glinda and Aunt Em. Fields has performed at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, Theatre at the Center, and Apple Tree Theatre, among others. In 1997, she played the titular role of Ma Rainey in the Goodman Theater’s production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in Chicago. In 2005, Fields was cast to play the role of Sofia in the Broadway production of The Color Purple. She then reprised her role in the national tour of The Color Purple in 2007. In 2011 and 2012, she performed in the Goodman Theater’s production of Crowns. Fields also has performed in The Rose Tattoo, The Amen Corner, A Christmas Carol, Hairspray and the first cycle of the tour of Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Fields’s production credits also include Nunsense, Nunset Boulevard, Swinging on a Star, Some Like It Hot, Richard II, It Ain’t Nothing But the Blues, Low Down Dirty Blues, A Civil War Christmas, Hot Mikado, Show Boat, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Dreamgirls, and Hello, Dolly! , among others. She also has appeared in the film and television productions Early Edition, Save the Last Dance, The Knights of Prosperity, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Sens8.

For her role as Sofia in The Color Purple, Fields received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, a 2006 Theatre World Award, a Clarence Derwent Award, two Broadway.com awards, an NAACP nomination, and a Denver Post Ovation Award. Fields also was a 2006 Drama League honoree. Fields received the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Sophisticated Ladies in 1996. Fields later won a Black Theater Alliance Award for her performance as Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In 2007, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn declared July 24, 2007, Felicia P. Fields Day. In 2021, Fields was a recipient of the Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Musical Theater in Chicago.

Fields lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Felicia Fields was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 2, 2022.