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Misty Copeland was born on September 10, 1982 in Kansas City, Missouri to Doug Copeland and Sylvia DelaCerna. She is of German descent, African American descent, and Italian. She has two brothers, Doulas Jr., and Christopher, a sister, Erica, a half-brother, Cameron, and Lindsay, a half-sister.
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At the age of 2, she, her mom, and her siblings boarded a Greyhound bus for San Pedro, California which is where she was raised and where she started her ballet.
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Misty and her siblings went to a club(boys and girls) when she was 13. And she met a ballet teacher named Cindy Bradley who encouraged her to take formal ballet. Misty took that class on a basketball court which is when Bradley instantly knew that something new was unfolding.
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After 3 months of classes, she was en pointe.
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After only a few months of classes, she took the lead role of Clara in the Nutcracker.
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She won in the field of best ballet dancer.
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Copeland took headlines
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Misty had applied for many ballet companies but kept getting declined till she was chosen of six girls to be apart of American Ballet Theaters Studio Company
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In 2007 she became the company’s first African American female soloist in two decades (Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball had preceded her).
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Copeland starred in 2009 in a music video for Prince's album "Crimson and Clover." The next year she also performed live on his tour with him.
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Misty Copeland faced a career ending injury: 6 stress fractures in her tailbone.
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Misty received the Young, Gifted & Black honor at the Black Girls Rock! Awards.
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She also worked on the ABT's Initiative Plié advisory committee, a network providing instruction and mentoring to dance instructors in racially segregated neighborhoods around the nation as well as in Boys & Girls Clubs.
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In 2014, President Obama appointed Misty to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.
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Misty received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford for her achievements to classical ballet and to the growth of the art form.
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Copeland published the memoir Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina and had endorsements with companies.
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Misty published a picture book titled Firebird in collaboration with award-winning illustrator and author Christopher Myers
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Misty had her Broadway debut in the role of Ivy Smith in Leonard Bernstein’s musical On the Town.
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In June 2015 the ABT chose Copeland as its first African American female principal dancer in the company’s 75-year history.
