Six-time Tony Award winner
Singer, actress and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald has been named the 2024 Tournament of Roses grand marshal.
McDonald “not only gracefully epitomizes our theme, but also perfectly personifies the power of music to move, soothe, excite and delight us all,’’ Tournament of Roses President Alex Aghajanian said as he made the announcement outside Tournament House in Pasadena.
The theme of the 2024 Rose Parade is “Celebrating a World of Music.’’
McDonald’s six Tony Awards are more than any other performer, and she is the only person to win in the four acting categories. She also has two Grammy Awards and an Emmy. She received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.
“I am so deeply honored to have been invited to serve as the grand marshal of the 2024 Rose Parade,’’ McDonald said. “As a California kid, raised in Fresno, ... the new year was always ushered in with the Rose Bowl. Every Jan. 1 I’d wake up early to watch the parade and the game with my family.
“My dad, may he rest in peace, was a huge football fan,’’ she said. “Always rooting for his beloved Oakland Raiders.”
