Emily Tyra

With her intense screen presence and impressive dance skills, Emily Tyra might not have seemed like a shy person. But her shyness as a small child was exactly the reason why her mother enrolled her in dance classes, which eventually drew her into other areas of performance. Tyra began taking private voice and acting classes in addition to her rigorous work as a dancer. When she was 17, she joined the ranks of the prestigious Boston Ballet Company. After performing with the ensemble for a few years, she then toured internationally with the modernist-leaning James Sewell Ballet Company. After finishing her run with the ensemble, Tyra set her sights on New York. She made her Broadway debut in 2011 in "Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway." She followed it with a role on stage in "Chaplin" later that year, before making her screen debut in an episode of "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO, 2010-14). Tyra then returned to the Broadway stage for "It's Nice Work If You Can Get It" in 2013. In 2014, Tyra was cast as the star of the new Starz series "Flesh and Bone" (Starz, 2015), playing an emotionally disturbed ballet dancer navigating the difficult and often cutthroat world of professional dance.