Regina Marie Williams

Guthrie Theater
Minneapolis, MN

Celebrated and renowned stage actress Regina Marie Williams is a woman of force in the American Theatre.

She has commanded regional stages across the country, captivating new audiences with the classics as well as originating roles written with her talent in mind. She is a Guthrie Theatre staple; performing in over 50 productions, including The Tempest (Prospera), Hamlet (Gertrude) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania). She is a longtime member of the African American jewel Penumbra Theatre Company, and an artistic core member of Ten Thousand Things Theatre that performs gorgeous, quality, and deeply moving professional theater in correctional facilities, shelters and senior homes as well as for traditional theater audiences. 

Williams originated the role of Nina in Nina Simone: Four Women at Park Square Theater. She reprised the role at People’s Light and Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater, and was a crucial artistic creative in the development of its success. It has been one of the most produced plays in recent theatrical history. Williams has given theatrical life to prominent American songstress Dinah Washington and the multi-talented Eartha Kitt. She is a former member of the Grammy award-winning Sounds of Blackness, regularly headlined at the historic Dakota Jazz Club, and has produced three solo CDs.

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She received an Ivey Award for her portrayal of Mama Nadi in Ruined (Mixed Blood Theatre), is a two-time McKnight Theatre Artist Fellow, a Helen Hayes Nominee (Penumbra/Roundhouse Theatre), revered as Best Actress in 2016 (City Pages), and was esteemed Artist of the Year in 2023 by the Pulitzer Prize winning Minnesota Star Tribune. She is forever celebrated by her community of artistic peers, students and mentees, as a talented, acclaimed, and integral part of the Twin Cities Theatre Community.

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She has impacted young people in their classrooms, as director and educator, and mentoring early career artists; planting the seeds that were watered for her in the very same way. 

Hailing from the San Fernando Valley, California. Williams uprooted and planted herself in the land of 10,000 lakes where she blooms and remains deeply rooted