Misty Copeland

Misty Copeland Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: September 10, 1982

Age: 41 years old

Birth Place: Kansas City, Missouri

Misty Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri but spent most of her childhood in southern California. Misty was first introduced to ballet at classes held at a local Boys & Girls Club in her community. Copeland had become the captain of her school's drill team, and the coach had recommended that she try to study dance. Copeland was a quick learner, deemed a prodigy and was en pointe as a ballerina after only 3 months of study. Only 5 months later she was cast as Clara in the Nutcracker, drawing over 2,000 patrons per show, and capturing the attention of the Los Angeles media. Due to her mother's many relationships, the family moved around a great deal, and, rather than force Copeland to give up ballet, her teachers agreed to host her. This decision caused problems involving an emancipation suit, restraining orders and custody battles, but legal proceedings were ultimately dropped, and Copeland returned home with her mother and began studying ballet under the tutelage of a former member of the American Ballet Theatre. Copeland herself joined the ABT in 2000, after a number of summer workshops, and was made a corps de ballet member in 2001. She was a soloist with the company by 2007 and in 2015 she became the first African-American woman in the theatre's history to be made principal dancer. Copeland wrote two autobiographical books about her experiences, and was the narrator of "A Ballerina's Tale" (2015), a documentary about the challenges she faced in pursuit of her dreams.

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Thriller 40Stream

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2023

Influential with Katty Kay

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2023

PBS Arts Talk

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2023

Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?Stream

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2022

Power of Women: The ChangemakersStream

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2022

Sherri

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2022

Be My Guest With Ina GartenStream

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2022

Lift

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2022

Nick Cannon

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2021

CBS Mornings

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2021

Screwdriver

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Sierra
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2021

We Have a Dream

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2021

Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas SpecialStream

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2020

Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices

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2020

Dear...Stream

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2020
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The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards

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2020

We Have a Dream

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2020

We Have a Dream

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2020

The Kelly Clarkson ShowStream

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2019

Access Daily

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2019

Tamron Hall

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2019

Today With Hoda & Jenna

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2019

We Have a Dream

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2019

Pop Up Santa Holiday Special

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2018

Today 3rd Hour

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2018

To Dine For With Kate Sullivan

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2018

We Have a Dream

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2018

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover

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2018

We Have a Dream

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2018

The Nutcracker and the Four RealmsStream

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2018
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The 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors

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2017

Access Live

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2017

Daily Blast Live

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2017

We Have a Dream

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2017

World of Dance

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2017

Live with Kelly and Ryan

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2017

Prokofiev: Romeo e Giulietta

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Juliet
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2017

We Have a Dream

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2017

Today's Take

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2016

Little Big Shots

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2016

A Toast to 2015!

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2015

Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015

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2015

The Late Show With Stephen ColbertStream

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2015

A Ballerina's Tale

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2015

A Ballerina's Tale

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2015

Women of Power

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2014

Late Night With Seth MeyersStream

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2014

The Arsenio Hall Show

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2013

The Real

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2013

Steve Harvey

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2012

CBS This Morning

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2012

The Chew

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The Talk

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2010

In Depth With Graham Bensinger

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2010

The Dr. Oz Show

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2009

To the Contrary With Bonnie Erbé

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Our World With Black Enterprise

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Rachael Ray ShowStream

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2006

So You Think You Can DanceStream

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2005

So You Think You Can DanceStream

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2005

Tavis Smiley

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2004

Jimmy Kimmel Live!Stream

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2003

The View

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1997

CBS News Sunday Morning

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1979

Good Morning America

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1975

Great PerformancesStream

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1972

60 MinutesStream

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1968

Today

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1952

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