Eden Sanaa Duncan-Smith wins Best Performance in Live Theater
Last year, while most of the attention was focused on her famous adult co-stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, Eden Sanaa Duncan-Smith was making strides of her own. A young 11 year old actress from Brooklyn, Eden made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning Fences at the Cort Theatre last spring.
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Local Pre-Teen Receives National Honor In Theater:
Eden Sanaa Duncan-Smith wins Best Performance in Live Theater at the 32nd Annual Young Artist Awards for Her Role as Raynell Maxson in August Wilson’s Tony Award Winning Revival Fences.
New York, NY: Last year, while most of the attention was focused on her famous adult co-stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, Eden Sanaa Duncan-Smith was making strides of her own. A young 11 year old actress from Brooklyn, Eden made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning Fences at the Cort Theatre last spring. As Raynell she received praise from some of theater most prolific critics and now has received the highest honor for a child star on the stage, Best Performance in Live Theater (actress) given by the 32nd Annual Young Artist Awards.
“Had I not worked with people like Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson and Chris Chalk (people I had seen on TV and in the movies all my life), I don’t think I would have learned to be so committed to the role. It was great learning from them and working Kenny Leon as a director was awesome too,” the young thespian giggles “They all helped me bring integrity to the role.”
The Young Artist Awards was held March 13, 2011 in Studio City, California at the Empire Ballroom inside of the Sportsmen Lodge Hotel. A non-profit 501(c)organization founded in 1978 by long-standing Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes) member Maureen Dragone, YAA recognizes and awards excellence of youth performers and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.
The Young Artist Foundation also was the first organization to establish an awards ceremony specifically set to recognize and award the contributions of performers under the age of 18 in the fields of television, film, theater and music.
This year winners included Jaden Smith for his role in Karate Kid and Hailee Steinfeld for her role in True Grit. Eden also shared the honor with her co-star Alphonso Jones from the Broadway production of Disney’s Lion King.
In addition to this honor, earlier last year Eden received the Emerging Artist Award for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated at their National Convention and was acknowledged within the cast of Fences as they received Best Revival Play at the 2010 Tony Awards.