The esteemed Nancy Wilson once said “a great actress doesn’t have to sing, but every great singer is an actor.” 

Capathia Jenkins can definitely act but all those who know her also know that this diva can blow and blow and blow you right off this planet.  This is a woman who grappling with two dueling passions each with a strong grip: acting and music, yet she refuses to pick one because they both represent her soul.   Capathia approaches a song the same way she approaches a script, like an artist.  She looks for the nuances, the secret hidden within the notes or text.  She seeks the melody, harmony and rhythm. 

She asks herself: what am I trying to say?  What do I want my audience to experience with me?

She wants to take her audience on a journey. 
  

Capathia’s love affair with performing began during her childhood in Brooklyn, New York, where she performed regularly in school productions and was a featured vocalist in her church choir.  She began her classical music studies in the third grade when her teacher noted her musical talent and recommended that she take professional singing lessons.  She was later accepted into New York’s prestigious High School of Music and Art, the legendary performing arts school featured in the hit movie, Fame.

After high school, Capathia enrolled in Temple University as a Jazz Vocal major.  Because the program emphasized popular jazz, she was able venture beyond her classical training and develop her unique singing style.  Fate intervened during Capathia’s train ride back to Temple for her junior year.  Reading the newspaper, she learned about auditions for Uptown Saturday Night, a Motown-style musical revue in Bermuda.  She auditioned for the revue, and was cast as Aretha Franklin.  After additional engagements in Miami, Lake Tahoe, and other cities throughout the United States, Capathia returned to New York to audition for Off-Broadway and Broadway productions.

She was soon cast as Effie White in a national tour of Dreamgirls, which marked a turning point in her career.  Other national and European tours quickly followed, including Bubblin’ Brown Sugar and Sophisticated Rhythms.  The talented actress then appeared extensively in regional theater productions, including Ain’t Misbehavin’, Children of Eden, and Eliot Ness in Cleveland.

Capathia made her Broadway debut in 1999, portraying Harriet Jackson in Frank Wildhorn’s musical The Civil War, directed by Jerry Zaks.  In addition to her show-stopping turn in the Broadway hit Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, she has also starred in Broadway productions of Caroline, Or Change, The Civil War, and Bacharach and David’s The Look of Love.  She has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including the York Theatre’s recent revival of Godspell, Princess and the Black-eyed Pea, and After Hours.  Her television credits include The Practice, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Corn, Third Watch, Mari X, Law & Order, The Sopranos, 100 Centre Street, America’s Most Wanted, and Variety Club.  The celebrated vocalist can be heard on the film soundtracks of Chicago and Legally Blonde 2.

Capathia Jenkins resides in Brooklyn, New York.