At UPENN she still performed Shakespeare readings and danced with the acclaimed dance troupe African Rhythms West African ballet and Afro-Cuban dance on her free time . When Victor graduated , she left a job offer at '' InStyle '' magazine , started making music with her friend Mike " Double-O " ( '' Kidz In The Hall '' ) , and began training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute , a conservatory of the Tisch School of the Arts . She developed her artist community with many friends from the NYU program , and her friend Hyun Kim linked her up with the Nigerian-American actress Adepero Oduye for mentoring support . To finance her studies , Idara provided an online clothing store called Girled-Out , and also trained daily with actors from all over the world . As she watched Cate Blanchett in a movie , " the truth would grip me , I would think , I 'm dying &ndash; my heart has definitely stopped , and if I do n't get to get up there and do it too , I might as well just keep it off permanently . " Now in New York City , John Caird introduced her into the New York theatre scene straight out of college , hiring Victor for her first Broadway show that fall , in the revival of '' Les Misérables '' – " an amazing thing I learned was that when I went on as Cosette , I was the first African-American woman to ever play the role in the show 's 20 years of running " . Idara Victor continued training and working in New York , and soon booked work over the next two years at The Public Theater ( '' The Bacchae '' ) , Lincoln Center ( '' Happiness '' ) , and the Roundabout Theater Company ( '' The Tin Pan Alley Rag '' ) , to work with the directors Susan Stroman , Joanne Akalaitis , James Lapine , Stafford Arima and Tina Landau . Idara Victor is a natural operatic soprano , also sang Joplin 's ragtime opera '' Treemonisha '' , and performed at the 85th Academy Awards
85th Academy Awards
85th Academy Awards
Idara Victor