DeBose started her career on the stage, accruing ensemble credits as part of the Broadway ensembles of Bring It On, Motown: The Musical and Hamilton. She's lent this theater background to film adaptations of stage musicals such as The Prom and West Side Story (2021).
She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Anita in West Side Story, becoming the first openly LGBTQ actor to win an Academy Award.note
She is also the third actor to win an Academy Award for playing a character previously played by someone else (in this case, Rita Moreno in West Side Story (1961)) who had also won an Academy Award for playing that role, and the first female actor to do so.note
Filmography:
- The Prom (2020): Alyssa Greene
- Schmigadoon! (2021): Emma Tate
- West Side Story (2021): Anita Palacio
- Westworld (2022): Maya
- Wish (2023): Asha
Selected stage credits:
- Bring It On (2011-2012): Nautica
- Motown The Musical (2013): Ensemble, Mary Wilson
- Hamilton (2015): Ensemble/"The Bullet", also in the filmed version released in 2020 on Disney+
- A Bronx Tale (2016): Jane
- Summer The Donna Summer Musical (2017-2018): Disco Donna
