Andra Day

Cassandra Monique Batie (born December 30, 1984), known professionally as Andra Day, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Children's and Family Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award, along with a nomination for an Academy Award.

In 2015, she released her debut album, Cheers to the Fall. At the 2016 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best R&B Album and the single, "Rise Up", was nominated for Best R&B Performance. To promote "Rise Up", she performed the song on The View, earning a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for the performance. Day also appeared alongside Stevie Wonder, who is partially credited for her discovery, in an ad for Apple TV in late 2015. In 2020, Day became one of the most-requested artists among Jazz Joy and Roy Global Radio listeners.

In 2021, Day made her acting debut with her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lee Daniels' biopic The United States vs. Billie Holiday, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Day received the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for the film's accompanying soundtrack. She moved to Southern California at age three, and grew up in Southeast San Diego, California, with her family.

Career Music After high school, Day worked about 20 different jobs, including one as a children's entertainer. Day received a call from Wonder himself soon after. No immediate partnership was formed, but the two reconnected around a year later. Wonder introduced Day to producer Adrian Gurvitz at that time. Gurvitz would eventually collaborate on Day's debut album a few years later. Eminem's "Lose Yourself", and Muse's "Uprising" among others. She was also known for mashups including one that patched together The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" with Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" and another that combined Amy Winehouse's "He Can Only Hold Her" and Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)". the Essence Music Festival, and on television shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Good Morning America, and numerous others. She also performed Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam" for the soundtrack for the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?.

Her first studio album, Cheers to the Fall, was released on August 28, 2015. The album was nominated for Best R&B Album and "Rise Up" was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016 (an event at which she also performed). In September 2015, "Rise Up" was used in an advertisement for Beats by Dre that featured tennis player Serena Williams. Her Cheers to the Fall Tour began in November 2016 in her hometown of San Diego. Day performed on the second day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to rousing applause. She followed immediately after a moving address by Mothers of the Movement, a group of black mothers who had lost a child through encounters with police and gun violence.

In December 2016, Andra Day received the Powerhouse Award at the Billboard Women in Music event. When asked what makes a 'powerhouse' powerful to others, Day responded, "I think you just remind them of their value, you remind them of their purpose. You remind them that you are not here just to exist, you're here to impact people in their lives...I think it just reinforces that."

In 2017, Day appeared on the song "Stand Up for Something" with rapper Common for the film Marshall. The single was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song; Day and Common performed the song at the 90th Academy Awards in March 2018. Day performed with the Baltimore Children's Choir for the opening musical performance at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018.

In 2024, Andra Day performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on the pregame show of Super Bowl LVIII. In August 2025 she collaborated on the track "Lean on My Love" featured on Jon Batiste's ninth studio album Big Money.

Acting In her first major film role, Day starred as the iconic singer Billie Holiday in the biographical drama The United States vs. Billie Holiday, for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama, a BET Award for Best Actress and received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Day also composed and performed the soundtrack, which won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. The original song "Tigress & Tweed" being nominated for Best Original Songs at the Golden Globe, Critics' Choice Movie Award and Black Reel award.

In 2021, Day was involved as writer and song performer on American educational television series We the People, winning the Children's and Family Emmy Awards for Outstanding Short Form Program. In 2022, it was announced that Day will be starring in the Lee Daniels' horror/thriller The Deliverance with Mo'Nique, Omar Epps, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Glenn Close. In 2024, Day was announced to be portraying the Greek goddess Athena for the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In 2025 she acted as on Bradley Cooper's directed film Is This Thing On?.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Cheers to the Fall (2015) The United States vs. Billie Holiday (soundtrack) (2021) CASSANDRA (cherith) (2024)

Awards and nominations

Day has received three Grammy Award nominations for her R&B Album, Cheers to the Fall and her performance for "Rise Up" in 2016, and for Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Stand Up for Something" from Marshall. In 2018, she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her live performance of "Rise Up" on The View. For the 2020 film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, at the Golden Globes, she received a nomination for Best Original Song for "Tigress and Tweed", and won Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her title performance as Billie Holiday. She also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role.