The two-time Tony winner is one of the most in-demand performers working right now
There is a particular kind of performer who commands every room they walk into without announcing themselves. Kara Young is that kind of performer — and right now, she is everywhere.
The two-time Tony Award winner, and the first Black performer to win consecutive Tony Awards, is currently starring in the Broadway revival of Proof at the Booth Theatre alongside Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle, while simultaneously appearing in two films in theaters at the same time.
Young stepped into Proof after Samira Wiley withdrew from the production in March due to a treatable medical condition. Directed by Thomas Kail, the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play follows Catherine, the brilliant daughter of a once-legendary mathematics professor, who finds a notebook containing a revolutionary proof after his death. As Catherine grapples with whether she may share her father’s genius and his mental illness, her older sister Claire, played by Young, returns after years away, complicating an already fragile situation.
On the film front, Is God Is, written and directed by Aleshea Harris in her feature directorial debut, follows twin sisters with disfiguring burn scars whose dying mother sends them on a mission to kill their abusive father. Young stars as Racine the Rough One opposite Mallori Johnson, with a cast that also includes Sterling K. Brown, Janelle Monáe, Vivica A. Fox, and Erika Alexander. The film is now in theaters via Orion Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios.
Also now in theaters is Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, which opened this past weekend. The surrealist adventure comedy follows a fearless crew of shoplifters who set their sights on a cutthroat fashion mogul running a far darker operation than anyone realizes. The all-star cast includes Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, LaKeith Stanfield, Demi Moore, Don Cheadle, Eiza González, Poppy Liu, Will Poulter, and Young. The film marks Young’s second collaboration with Riley, following her recurring role in his series I’m a Virgo.
Young will play her final performance in Proof on June 28, with Tony winner Adrienne Warren stepping in to take over the role. Young is departing to join Lincoln Center Theater’s off-Broadway production of The Whoopi Monologues, a reimagining of Whoopi Goldberg’s landmark 1984 solo Broadway debut adapted for an ensemble of women. Kerry Washington will star alongside Young, with previews beginning July 7 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater and an official opening set for July 14. The production is directed by Tony nominee Whitney White.
And that is not all. Young is also set to star in Mix and Master on Broadway at the Todd Haimes Theatre in winter 2027, adding yet another credit to one of the most remarkable runs in recent theater history.