Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was an influential American blues, jazz, and gospel vocalist whose career also established her as a major stage, film, and television actress. She rose from vaudeville and recording to Broadway prominence, including a starring role in Irving Berlin’s *As Thousands Cheer*, and later appeared in films such as *Cabin in the Sky*. Waters also broke important barriers as the first African American woman to star in her own television show and the first African American woman nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.