“When Margot came into the audition, she really blew us away. Her voice is just incredible.”
Critically heralded actress and singer/songwriter Margot Bingham captured hearts as a sultry jazz chanteuse on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Now she prepares to capture criminals as a hard-driving detective in the upcoming ABC series “The Family,” while locking up laughs as a headstrong hairdresser in the spring comedy Barbershop 3.
The political thriller, to premiere mid-season in early 2016, spotlights the fictional Maine city of Red Pines run by a ruthless mayor (Joan Allen) with her eye on the governor’s office after her son mysteriously returns home more than a decade after being kidnapped. Bingham portrays Police Detective Nina Meyer in this much anticipated drama created and executive produced by Jenna Bans (“Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives”).
Bingham is best-known to television audiences for her recurring role as jazz singer Daughter Maitland on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.” Joining the period during its fourth season, she showcased both her extraordinary singing and acting chops,sharing a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by anEnsemble in a Drama Series and drawing high praise across the board. Rolling Stone lauded her for “transform[ing] what could have been a one-note performance into the breakout role of the season,” while show creator, writer and executive producer Terence Winter (“The Sopranos”) called her voice “just incredible.”
Previous small-screen roles for Bingham include those on “Matador,” executive producer Robert Rodriguez and writer/producer Roberto Orci’s crime series on the El Rey network, and the web series “In Between Men,” which earned her a Best Breakout Performance nomination at the 2011 Indie Soap Awards.
Also on the horizon for Margot Bingham, and revealing her equal skill at levity, is a leading role in the feature film Barbershop 3 opposite Ice Cube, Nicki Minaj and Common, to premiere on April 15, as well as independent film dramas Destined and The Erotic Fire of the Unattainable. Prior film work includes the adventure drama Her Composition, the John Leguizamo comedy Fugly! and the Lionsgate drama Burning Blue.
With an acting presence and powerhouse voice well-suited to theater, Bingham appeared in the off-Broadway revival of Rent and enjoys performing for audiences on the concert stage. She’s opened for and performed with Jason Mraz and regularly performs at New York City’s Rockwood Music Hall, Webster Hall, and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Along with contributing to two “Boardwalk Empire” albums, she’s recorded her own albums, under the pseudonym Margot B., beginning with the 2009 pop CD Two Thousand Mine through her most recent release, the R&B flavored Live at the Hazlett. In 2012 Bingham was nominated for an Independent Music Award for Best Cover Song.
A native of Pittsburgh who began her career as a model at age nine and attended Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, today Margot Bingham makes her home in New York City. She is active in a breadth of cause-driven organizations and events, including City Harvest, Georges Malaika Foundation gala fostering empowerment in the Congo, and supporting LGBTQ youth.