Early life and education
Rogers was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Jacquelyn, is a pharmacist. [3] Her family moved to Richmond, Texas, in 2010. At age 7, her first role was as a member of Tiger Lily's tribe in Milford Performing Arts Center's production of Peter Pan. [4] [5] She graduated from Austin High School near Houston, Texas, in 2017, where she won a Theatre Under the Stars Tommy Tune Award for best actress as the Witch in Into the Woods . [3] [6] Soon afterwards, she was a 2017 Jimmy Awards finalist. [7]
Career
Rogers studied musical theatre at Manhattan School of Music for two years from 2017 to 2019, leaving when she began to book professional acting work, including creating the dual role of Frances Bassey and Donna Summer in the 2019 premiere of Becoming Nancy , directed by Jerry Mitchell at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. [4] [8] After this, she played Melody Green in Paper Mill Playhouse's 2022 production of the Dion DiMucci bio-musical The Wanderer. [9] Between shows, she worked as a babysitter and restaurant hostess. [10] She next played Gretchen Wieners, from May 2022 to May 2023, in the US national tour of Mean Girls . [11]
After additional tap dance classes, [12] [13] Rogers created the role of Betty Boop in Boop! The Musical , directed by Mitchell, in Chicago in 2023. [14] As Anita in Jelly's Last Jam at the Pasadena Playhouse in May and June 2024, Rogers was "a sultry siren ... singing with the buttery vocals of a jazz chanteuse." [15] A May 2025 feature on Rogers in The New York Times concludes that playing Anita was a learning experience that "likely helped strengthen Rogers's performance of Betty [Boop], making it simultaneously more personal and more universal." [16] Rogers made her Broadway debut starring in Boop! in March 2025, and she appears on the cast album, which was released in June 2025. [17] [18] Boop! is set to close on July 13, 2025. [19]
Rogers was widely praised for her charismatic and vocally strong performance as Betty Boop. [20] Frank Rizzo, in his Variety review, wrote: "Rogers is a delightful embodiment of Betty, a cartoon that she makes just human enough with warmth, vulnerability and pluck." [21] Rogers has said of her casting: "A lot of people [are] not thinking about the fact that I'm Black. And I think that's … exciting and refreshing." [16] For her performance in the role, Rogers won the Drama Desk [2] and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Leading Actress, [22] was honored with a Theatre World Award, [23] and was nominated for a Tony Award, [24] and a Drama League Award. [25]
Her TV credits include Charlotte in "Evil" on Paramount+ (2019). [9]
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