Misty Copeland was the first black American to be accepted as a solo dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). From a young age, she showed clear signs of how amazing she would be, and despite the custody battles she faced, Misty remained determined to be the best of what she wanted to be, and for this reason, her life story is an interesting one. Here you can find out everything there is to know about her biography, including facts about her family and its members, and of course look at how much she is worth.
Misty Copeland Bio
Misty Copeland was born on September 10, 1982, in Kansas City, Missouri, to a German-American and African-American father named Doug Copeland and an Italian-American and African-American mother named Sylvia Dela Cerna. She grew up in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, California, as the youngest of four children, some of whom her mother had from her previous marriages.
Misty attended Point Fermin Elementary School and Dana Middle School, where she began to take an interest in their drill team and follow the steps of her older sister Ericka. Her coach Elizabeth Cantine saw the talent in her and suggested that she enroll in ballet classes with Cynthia Bradley, who ran a local “boys and girls club” that taught ballet once a week.
With her mother’s permission, she began to study insatiably, and in only about 8 months Misty Copeland delighted audiences with her portrayal of Clara in her school’s “Nutcracker” production. But her newfound success in ballet meant disaster for her at home. Her mother wanted her to quit while her coach advised her not to and she preferred to stay with her so she could continue training and improve her skills.
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A few years later Misty Copeland had to pay tribute to her works such as “Ballo della Regina” in 2007, “Baker’s Dozen” the following year in 2008, “One of Three” in 2009, “Birthday Offering” in 2010, “Giselle” in 2011 and “Don Quixote” in 2013. On June 15, 2015, she was named principal ballerina of the American Ballet Theatre, making her the first black American in history to receive this appointment.
Over the years, Misty Copeland has won prizes and recognitions such as the 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship, a Shorty Award 2016 for best dance in social media, and many others, including her appointment to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition in 2014 by then-president Barack Obama.
Net Worth
Misty Copeland is undoubtedly one of the best in what she does, and for every human effort that deserves a reward, dancing has proven to be very rewarding for her, as the African-American ballerina is said to have a fortune somewhere between $500,000 and over a million dollars.
Family Facts – Parents and Siblings
As mentioned above, Misty was born to Doug Copeland and Sylvia Dela Cerna. She has four siblings, including a half-brother; Cameron, half-sister; Lindsay, brothers; Doulas Jr. and Christopher and a sister named Ericka.
There came a time when her mother was annoyed by her coach’s influence in her daughter’s life because she felt she was losing her daughter to her ballet coach. Sylvia then instructed her daughter to stop dancing and this became her greatest fear, fearing that she would not live a fulfilled life without dancing.
With the help and advice of Bradley (her coach), Copeland filed emancipation papers against her mother to secure her legal independence, but in response, her mother filed a restraining order against the Bradley’s. The case went to the Los Angeles County Supreme Court but was dismissed after much ado when Copeland returned home to her mother, who then got her a new ballet teacher, Diane Lauridsen.
Misty Copeland Husband
Misty Copeland is married to Olu Evans. They were married on July 31, 2016, at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California. They knew each other since 2004 after they were introduced to each other by Olu’s cousin Taye Diggs. Currently, they live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and enjoy their married life together without any negative rumors.
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According to what we know about her husband, he is a business lawyer and a graduate of Emory University, where he studied law and passed the bar exam in 2007. Besides being a lawyer, he runs a dancewear company called Muse Dancewear, which has been operating since 2010.
