Hope Clarke Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Hope Clarke (born March 23, 1941) is an African-American actress, dancer, vocalist, choreographer, and director. Clarke performed as principal dancer with Katherine Dunham Company and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 1960s; actress on stage, film, and television, 1970s-1980s; choreographer and director, 1980s--. Clarke serves on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee for the 2011-2012 Broadway season. On Broadway, Clarke, who was also raised in New York City, appeared in West Side Story (1960), Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1972), and Grind (1975), and... MORE

Hope Clarke (born March 23, 1941) is an African-American actress, dancer, vocalist, choreographer, and director. Clarke performed as principal dancer with Katherine Dunham Company and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 1960s; actress on stage, film, and television, 1970s-1980s; choreographer and director, 1980s--. Clarke serves on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee for the 2011-2012 Broadway season. On Broadway, Clarke, who was also raised in New York City, appeared in West Side Story (1960), Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1972), and Grind (1975), and choreographed Jelly's Last Jam (1992), for which she was nominated for a Tony and Drama Desk Award, and Caroline, or Change (2004). Clarke was also cast as Tia Mowry's grandmother in Seventeen Again. Clarke made history in 1995 when she became the first African American, as well as the first African American woman, to direct and choreograph a major staging of the opera-musical Porgy and Bess. Clarke's production of the George Gershwin classic was staged in celebration of the work's sixtieth anniversary, and it toured not only major American cities but Japan and Europe as well. Clarke drew critical acclaim LESS