Heather Headley

Heather Headley was born in Trinidad. In 1989, her family moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Heather attended Northrop High School. After graduating, she went on to study communications and musical theater at Northwestern University, but wound up dropping out when she was cast in a stage production of the musical Ragtime.

In 1997 she was cast in the role of Nala in the Broadway musical The Lion King.

In 2000, Heather took on the title role in the Broadway musical Aida. Her performance earned her recognition as an actor, earning her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Heather made her big screen debut in 2004 in the movie Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004).

Recently she has been working on television, appearing in recurring roles on the series She's Gotta Have It (2017-2019) and Chicago Med (2018-2020).

Currently, she's starring as Helen Decatur on the hit Netflix series Sweet Magnolias (2020).

In an interview with Playbill magazine, Heather said that she originally wanted to be a pop singer, and that she looked up to Whitney Houston. She also said she never had any formal vocal training until she got to Northwestern University.

In 2006, she married longtime boyfriend, Brian Musso. They have three children together—two sons and one daughter. ~Sean Olegario

Filmography:

Respect (2021)
Sweet Magnolias (Netflix)
Breakin’ All the Rules (2004)
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)