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While “Glee” is still the role she is most known for, Amber Riley has made her mark on other projects. She’s had memorable roles here and there over the years including an appearance on The CW’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and four episodes of “A Black Lady Sketch Show” on HBO (via IMDb).
The actress also was a part of two big TV musicals. As Playbill reported, Riley played the role of Addaperle in NBC’s “The Wiz Live!” in 2015 alongside Queen Latifah, Uzo Aduba, and Elijah Kelley. In 2019, Riley was in ABC’s “The Little Mermaid Live!” She took on the role of emcee for the show and presented the Daughters of Triton for a special performance. The role allowed her to share the stage with Queen Latifah again, who took on the role of Ursula, along with Auli’i Cravalho and Shaggy (via Variety).
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One of the biggest roles Riley took on post-“Glee” was as Effie White in “Dreamgirls” in London’s West End from 2016 to 2017. She famously performed Effie’s showstopping song, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” on “Glee,” so doing it for a live audience just made sense. Per Entertainment Weekly, the singer went on to perform the number at the 2017 Olivier Awards, where she won best actress in a musical. The performance brought her much praise from Lin-Manuel Miranda and the actress who originated the role, Jennifer Holliday. Not forgetting her singing roots, Riley also released her first EP titled “RILEY” in late 2020 (via The Miami Hurricane).
