# Patina Miller
**Patina Miller** (born 1984) is an American actress and singer who won the 2013 [Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-award-for-best-actress-in-a-musical) as the Leading Player in the Broadway revival of *[Pippin](https://www.edgepedia.org/pippin-musical)*, after originating the role of Deloris Van Cartier in the stage musical *Sister Act* in London and New York. On television she is known for playing Daisy Grant on *Madam Secretary* and Raquel "Raq" Thomas on *Power Book III: Raising Kanan*.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1984, Pageland, South Carolina[1](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Patina-Miller/) |
| Training | Musical theater B.F.A., Carnegie Mellon University, College of Fine Arts 2006[2](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/patina-miller/) |
| Breakout role | Originated Deloris Van Cartier in *Sister Act*, West End 2009 and Broadway 2011; Olivier Award nomination and Tony Award nomination, plus a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut[3](https://playbill.com/article/diva-talk-chatting-with-sister-act-tony-nominee-patina-miller-com-179969) |
| Tony win | Best Actress in a Musical, 2013, as the Leading Player in the *Pippin* revival[4](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2013/june/june10_tonyawards.html) |
| Screen work | Commander Paylor in *The Hunger Games: Mockingjay* films; Daisy Grant on *Madam Secretary*; Raquel "Raq" Thomas on *Raising Kanan* since 2021[5](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/november/patina-miller.html) • [6](https://www.cmu.edu/tony-awards/past-cmu-winners) |
| Return to Broadway | The Witch in the 2022 revival of *Into the Woods*; the cast album won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album[7](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/february/cmu-alumna-wins-grammy-award) |
| Recent stage work | Eloise Amponsah in the 2026 Broadway premiere of *School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play*, her first Broadway play[8](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/patina-miller) • [9](https://www.aol.com/articles/patina-miller-breaks-ground-her-221500000.html) |
## Early life and training
Miller grew up in Pageland, South Carolina, in a single-parent home, and was introduced to music through her local church, where she sang in the gospel choir[1](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Patina-Miller/). She and her siblings memorized both *Sister Act* films as children, and she sang [Lauryn Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/lauryn-hill)'s version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" as her solo in a seventh-grade talent show; from then on, she said, she was known as "the girl with the big voice"[10](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/).
As a child she had severe stage fright, freezing when anyone asked her to perform, though she danced in front of mirrors with her mother's curling iron. A performing arts camp changed that: one summer she played Miss Hannigan in *Annie*, and she knew from then that performing would be her career. She went on to a performing arts boarding school and earned a full scholarship to [Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-mellon-university), where she graduated with a musical theater degree in 2006[11](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/tony-nominee-patina-miller-makes-magic-pippin-broadway-14867/). She has said that Carnegie Mellon "gave me the playground to become who I wanted to be"[5](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/november/patina-miller.html).
## Sister Act
Miller's connection to *Sister Act*, the musical adaptation of the 1992 film about a nightclub singer who hides in a convent, began in 2006, when just out of college she was in the ensemble and understudied the lead, Deloris Van Cartier, in the Pasadena and Atlanta development runs[10](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/). She went on for one performance as understudy, and the part became hers: she starred as Deloris when the show opened at the [London Palladium](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-palladium) on 2 June 2009, with previews from 7 May, following [Whoopi Goldberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/whoopi-goldberg), who created the role on screen and produced the stage musical[12](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/brief-encounter-with-patina-miller_16921/). London critics responded strongly; *The Telegraph* praised her "funky, spunky stage presence and great comic timing" and *The Times* called her "the show's great plus"[10](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/).
She spent 18 months with the show in London and deliberately lived quietly while developing the part. "I lived like a nun," she told the Associated Press, explaining that the role was physically demanding and that she hoped to carry it to Broadway[10](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/).
**Broadway debut.** The musical opened at the Broadway Theatre in 2011 with Miller as the only cast member to move over from London, working with a new director, Jerry Zaks, and a book revised by Douglas Carter Beane. She described the Broadway Deloris as more grounded than her London portrayal, with a vulnerable side and a character arc that the revised material made explicit[10](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/). Zaks coached her on scale: in a 1,600-seat theater, he told her, everyone needed to see what she was doing and hear what she was saying[13](https://www.tdf.org/on-stage/tdf-stages/Building-Character-Patina-Miller/).
For the performance she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, and nominations from the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama Desk, and the Drama League; her London run had brought an Olivier Award nomination[3](https://playbill.com/article/diva-talk-chatting-with-sister-act-tony-nominee-patina-miller-com-179969). Goldberg, who gave her personal approval for the role, told her to make it her own: "You have an opportunity to create a role for a new stage"[10](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/).
## Pippin and the 2013 Tony
In 2012 Miller returned to Broadway as the Leading Player in Diane Paulus's revival of *Pippin*, set in the world of the circus. She opened the show performing trapeze tricks 17 feet above the stage despite a fear of heights, and trained at Mark Fisher Fitness along with voice lessons and trapeze classes to sustain the role, which she called "a Goliath of a role"[11](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/tony-nominee-patina-miller-makes-magic-pippin-broadway-14867/). Paulus recalled that Miller's audition rendition of the "Manson Trio" movement was the clincher for her casting[11](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/tony-nominee-patina-miller-makes-magic-pippin-broadway-14867/).
At the 67th [Tony Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-awards) in June 2013 she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, part of a year in which eight Carnegie Mellon alumni won Tonys, the most ever in one year[4](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2013/june/june10_tonyawards.html).
## Screen career
After the Tony, Miller's agent flagged *The Hunger Games* to her; she was cast as Commander Paylor of District 8 in *The Hunger Games: Mockingjay* and filmed across roughly nine months, appearing in both *Part 1* and *Part 2*[5](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/november/patina-miller.html). She has noted that stage, film, and television work were happening at the same time in that period[5](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/november/patina-miller.html).
On television she played press secretary Daisy Grant on the CBS drama *Madam Secretary* for six seasons[6](https://www.cmu.edu/tony-awards/past-cmu-winners). In 2021 she began starring as Raquel "Raq" Thomas in the Starz series *Power Book III: Raising Kanan*, a role she has described as deliberately sought: she told producers she wanted three-dimensional characters, and the part ran through the show's fifth and final season in 2026[14](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/06/awards-insider-patina-miller-power-raising-kanan) • [15](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/news/Patina-Miller/). She has also voiced Sera in the adult animated musical comedy *Hazbin Hotel*, which premiered in January 2024[16](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Patina-Miller/).
She has described the technical adjustment from stage to camera as her steepest learning curve, since television requires an up-close performance without a live audience to feed off, and the character work stretches over months rather than a two-hour show[14](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/06/awards-insider-patina-miller-power-raising-kanan).
## Into the Woods and later stage work
In 2022 Miller returned to Broadway for the first time in nearly a decade as the Witch in [Stephen Sondheim](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-sondheim) and [James Lapine](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-lapine)'s *Into the Woods*, the first Broadway revival of Sondheim's work produced after his death in 2021[17](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/g40834068/into-the-woods-broadway-patina-miller-backstage-interview/). The production moved to Broadway after a sold-out limited engagement at New York City Center Encores! and twice extended its run; the cast album, featuring Miller as the Witch alongside [Sara Bareilles](https://www.edgepedia.org/sara-bareilles), Brian d'Arcy James, and Phillipa Soo, won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in February 2023, Miller's first Grammy[7](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/february/cmu-alumna-wins-grammy-award).
In 2026 she joined the cast of the Broadway premiere of Jocelyn Bioh's *School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play* at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, playing Eloise Amponsah. The Manhattan Theatre Club production marked her first appearance in a play on Broadway, after a stage career built entirely in musicals[8](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/patina-miller) • [9](https://www.aol.com/articles/patina-miller-breaks-ground-her-221500000.html).
## References
1. [Patina Miller, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Patina-Miller/)
2. [Patina Miller, American Repertory Theater biography](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/patina-miller/)
3. [DIVA TALK: Chatting with Sister Act Tony Nominee Patina Miller, Playbill](https://playbill.com/article/diva-talk-chatting-with-sister-act-tony-nominee-patina-miller-com-179969)
4. [A Carnegie Mellon First: Eight Alumni Win Tony Awards, Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2013/june/june10_tonyawards.html)
5. [Patina Miller's on Fire, Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/november/patina-miller.html)
6. [Past CMU Winners, Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.cmu.edu/tony-awards/past-cmu-winners)
7. [CMU Alumna Wins Grammy Award, Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/february/cmu-alumna-wins-grammy-award)
8. [Patina Miller On Stage, New York Theatre Guide](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/patina-miller)
9. [Patina Miller Breaks New Ground in Her Broadway Career with 'School Girls', AOL/People](https://www.aol.com/articles/patina-miller-breaks-ground-her-221500000.html)
10. [Patina Miller Thanks Heaven for 'Sister Act', Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/patina-miller-thanks-heaven-sister-act-56372/)
11. [Tony Nominee Patina Miller Makes Magic in 'Pippin' on Broadway, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/tony-nominee-patina-miller-makes-magic-pippin-broadway-14867/)
12. [Brief Encounter With … Patina Miller, WhatsOnStage](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/brief-encounter-with-patina-miller_16921/)
13. [Building Character: Patina Miller, TDF Stages](https://www.tdf.org/on-stage/tdf-stages/Building-Character-Patina-Miller/)
14. [Catching Up With Patina Miller, Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/06/awards-insider-patina-miller-power-raising-kanan)
15. [Patina Miller News, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/news/Patina-Miller/)
16. [Patina Miller, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Patina-Miller/)
17. [Patina Miller's Backstage Diary: Into The Woods on Broadway, Town & Country](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/g40834068/into-the-woods-broadway-patina-miller-backstage-interview/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stage practitioners and craft › Acting: theory, technique, and teachers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license