Long before Renée Elise Goldsberry became internationally recognized for her role as Angelica Schuyler in the revolutionary musical Hamilton, she had a robust career as a stage and television actress. You might recognize her from The Good Wife, One Life to Live, or the Broadway productions of The Lion King and Rent. But it's her brilliant performance in Hamilton that won her a Tony. She will be leaving the show in the fall, after which the 45-year-old Houston native has been cast to play the title role in the HBO movie adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (She will be starring opposite Oprah Winfrey. NBD.) Goldsberry, a wife and mother of two children, shares how she navigated her career.

As a child, I loved to sing. When I was 8, my mother sent my brother and me to a summer music theater program in Texas. We did Guys and Dolls at the camp, and I was so depressed when it was over. That's when I realized that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That was a gift: I know so many young people are trying to find themselves, and I always knew.

In high school, I was on the dorm council and I was a cheerleader and I was in a singing group. I was so involved in the regular joy of school that I didn't do any plays. On a dare, I auditioned for South Pacific my junior year. I showed up at the last minute to the audition and ended up getting cast as the lead. I haven't turned back since then.

Ruben Chamorro

I applied to several colleges, and one of them was Carnegie Mellon University, which has one of the strongest theater departments in the world. I was not well prepared for the audition. I went to the dance call and not having had as much dance training as the other kids there, I felt like I had failed. I went to the singing call and a woman stopped me in the middle of my song to tell me that was enough. The air got knocked out of me. I said to myself, "Well, that's it, I'm going to law school. Clearly everyone's been lying to me my whole life." She must have noticed I was totally kicked in the gut because she said, "Oh, no, honey, I thought that was fabulous." I ended up on the wait list and then got in.

I thought it was going to be the most boring four years of my life in Pittsburgh, but the thing is, I felt like I needed to go there because everyone there was way more talented than me. That audition at Carnegie Mellon showed me that there was so much I didn't know.

Ruben Chamorro

By the time I got to my junior year, I was in a local Pittsburgh production of an August Wilson play. I did Once on This Island in Atlanta my senior year. I graduated from college with great training and all the union cards that you need, which is not something that would have happened to me if I were 18 and moved to L.A.

The challenge was that unlike for prospective doctors or lawyers, where the path is very clear, for performers, everything is up in the air. Even being the most talented or hardworking person in the world doesn't guarantee you any success, and that's frustrating. I didn't know what to do at every step; I just kept showing up when an opportunity presented itself. And I had the good fortune that when I wasn't making enough money to pay a bill, I had support from my parents. They were always there for me with really good advice and belief that I could pull it off at some point.

Ruben Chamorro

I then decided to get a graduate degree in vocal jazz. I felt like I wasn't ready to be done learning. I wanted to focus on my voice as a soloist as opposed to a musical theater performer. I was interested in recording music, and I thought it was a good way to transition out of theater. Once I got my master's degree at USC, I stayed in L.A. to try to get a record deal. I was doing session work, playing on Ally McBeal, singing in Top 40 bands and different clubs. I was making money singing, but I didn't have much success.

For the first time in my life, in my mid-20s, I started to question things. Had I been deceived? I thought I had been destined for something great — to be Whitney Houston or Jennifer Holliday or Phylicia Rashad. I started to realize that a lot of people think that, and it doesn't happen for almost everyone. How are you going to deal with that? What does it mean if this doesn't happen for you? The biggest question for me was, Am I doing all I should be doing? I worried very much that I was squandering my time by not making the right choices.

For the first time in my life, in my mid-20s, I started to question things. Had I been deceived?

It was during this time that I got the lead in an independent film called All About You. I was brought back to acting, but I also wrote a lot of music for the film with friends, and it was the first time in ages that I was really fulfilled creatively. We went to film festivals and it was a success, and even though I was still a girl who didn't have any money or a great résumé, it affirmed that I was really good at this.

Your life can change so quickly in this business. You have nothing going on, the phone rings, and the next thing you know you're on top of the world. We're always flirting with massive success even in the center of failure.

Ruben Chamorro

Every once in a while, Broadway productions would come through L.A. for auditions, and I went for The Lion King. I was engaged, and was all set to get married in a vineyard in Napa Valley and spend my life making independent movies. My fiancé Alexis — now my husband — had just become a lawyer and passed the California bar. While I was planning my wedding, I got offered a yearlong contract to play Nala in New York. I was on the phone discussing the opportunity with my mom and she said, "It's a year. Why would you not? Wasn't Broadway part of the dream at some point?" So I packed my bag and took my two dogs and left [with my husband eventually following], thinking I would be back in L.A. in a year. Six months into The Lion King, I got cast on One Life to Live, which meant another four years in New York. That was in 2002. And here I am in 2016 playing with my kids in Morningside Park.

At the beginning of my time on One Life to Live, I was very frustrated. This was a time in my life when I felt extremely marginalized. The formula of soap operas makes it really hard for an African-American to get any traction. There's always a family that's central to the story on a soap opera, and if the show loves you, you will turn into the long-lost brother or you will get married, which is easy to do for a white character. But as an ethnic person, they bring you on to be smart. You get to be the lawyer or the doctor for the family. No one sees where you live, they never bring you home. There might be one episode in February where they talk about your family because it's Black History Month. Your character might be on once every three weeks. You walk into a room and you say something really smart and noble, and then you walk out. And you only make money when they write for your character. You couldn't win the game as a person of color, no matter how talented or beautiful you were.

You couldn't win the game as a person of color, no matter how talented or beautiful you were.

But after the first couple of years, they put me in a love triangle and it just blew up. The love triangle was interracial, there was drama, there was a war between fan groups — it was the best thing that had ever happened to my career. I was featured in magazines and I was being voted a fan favorite character. I was being asked to co-host The View. At the same time, I was doing Shakespeare in the Park, being seen by the elite New York theater community and getting unbelievable reviews. I had high visibility and there were moments throughout this period where people said, "This is it." But it doesn't necessarily make you A-list. I was probably G-list most of my life.

In 2007, I left the soap. I wanted to evolve and do the next thing in my career. I used to joke that I wanted the Kelly Ripa deal. But I didn't see that future for me in soap operas. Why would I give up another four years of my life for a new contract if ABC primetime's not going to call me to do a job?

Through those years, I was always trying to have children. I had a pretty public miscarriage during a Broadway production of The Color Purple in 2005, but I was still trying. You leave room in your life hoping that something will happen. In 2008, I was fortunate enough to be asked to be in the closing company of Rent as Mimi. I discovered I was pregnant with my son Benjamin the day after we closed. For the next three years I was working in different shows, I had started working on The Good Wife, and my husband and I were raising our son.

RUBEN CHAMORRO

In 2011, I did a play on Broadway called Good People with Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan. From the first read, I knew it was a story that needed to be told. [The play, by David Lindsay-Abaire, tells the story of a single mother grappling with unemployment and the wounds of a past relationship.] It's so rare that you just know, This is my job. It was one of those times I felt so sure that it was important to go into that room. I didn't take another job in order to be able to audition for this play.

In 2014, I was first approached about Hamilton. I didn't know the creative team, but I knew the producers. I went to audition because they needed to see me rap. The last thing I thought was that it was a job I would get. They were looking for a Nicki Minaj type and I didn't think they would see me as that when I walked in the door.

I was initially hesitant about auditioning to be in a workshop of the show because there's no guarantee that you'll be in the show. With two young children at home, I didn't think it would be a good idea. But I ended up listening to a demo of Lin-Manuel Miranda singing my character's song in the first act and it changed my mind. I immediately felt like there was no world in which I couldn't be a part of this. I had to at least try. If I didn't get the job, then maybe I could invest in the project financially. Maybe I could be friends with them. They didn't take my money, but they did give me a job.

Joan Marcus

The real blessing for me in winning the Tony was the opportunity for the testimony. I think you have to chase your life even harder than you chase your career. I was very clear when I was trying to have children that that was my priority. You feel like you're risking choosing one or the other when you do that, but the celebration for me was that I chased both family and career very hard, and the fact that I could celebrate having my children and that Tony award was a miracle.

Getty

I won't last the life of this show. I know that there's a time to stay and there's a time to let someone else do it. I don't have a burning desire to fill in the blank — be a movie star, do this, do that. I have to love my husband and raise my kids and use this platform that my career has given me in a way that is responsible and worthy of the gift. And I know that if I do anything else, it's going to be a really strong woman.

Get That Life is a weekly series that reveals how successful, talented, creative women got to where they are now. Check back each Monday for the latest interview.

Follow Helin on Instagram.

STORY BY HELIN JUNG Helin Jung is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io