Banks, Michelle

Deaf from meningitis at 18 months; graduated the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in 1986. Attended Gallaudet University for 2 years, then transferred to State University of New York, Purchase, graduating 1990. Won acclaim in school plays, then won prizes for stage roles, including that of "Miss Brown" in the Broadway show For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. Actress in and founder of the Onyx Theatre Company of Brooklyn, NY, a theater company for both deaf and hearing Black actors.