{{Short description|American actress (1999–2010)}} {{notability|Bio|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Shannon Tavarez | image = Shannon Tavarez.jpg | birth_name = Shannon Skye Tavarez | birth_date = {{birth date|1999|1|20}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{dda|2010|11|1|1999|1|20}} | death_place = New Hyde Park, New York, U.S. | years_active = 2005–2010 | occupation = {{Hlist|Actress|singer}} | death_cause = Acute myeloid leukemia | website = shannonsshare.org }}
'''Shannon Skye Tavarez''' (January 20, 1999 – November 1, 2010) was an American child actress and singer. She played young Nala in the Broadway theatre production of ''The Lion King'' by Walt Disney Theatrical.
==Background== Shannon Tavarez was the only child of Odiney Brown, a human resources administrator,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shannon Tavarez, 11-year-old who starred in Broadway's 'The Lion King', needs bone marrow transplant |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/shannon-tavarez-11-year-old-starred-broadway-lion-king-bone-marrow-transplant-article-1.466738 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=New York Daily News|date=13 July 2010 }}</ref> and one of the daughters of a Dominican man with the surname of "Tavarez".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-12-11 |title=Lion King Actress Dies After Bone Marrow Match is Not Found |url=https://www.foxnews.com/health/lion-king-actress-dies-after-bone-marrow-match-is-not-found |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref> She was a native and resident of Bellerose, Queens,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fundraiser honors the memory of 'Lion King' actress Shannon Tavarez, who drew 15,000 marrow donors |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fundraiser-honors-memory-lion-king-actress-shannon-tavarez-drew-15-000-marrow-donors-article-1.973032 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=New York Daily News|date=6 November 2011 }}</ref> and an honors student at P.S. 176 <ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Jessica |title=LION KING Welcomes New 'Cubs' |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/LION-KING-Welcomes-New-Young-Simbas-and-Young-Nalas-20090930 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}</ref> as well as a student of vocals and piano at the Harlem School of the Arts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Diamond |first=Robert |title=Shannon Tavarez Passes Away at 11 |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Shannon-Tavarez-Passes-Away-at-11-20101101 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}</ref> She was chosen to play the role of young Nala after a cattle call audition at the Apollo Theater,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Young 'Lion King' star Shannon Tavarez, 11, loses fight with leukemia |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/young-lion-king-star-shannon-tavarez-11-loses-fight-leukemia-article-1.451826 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=New York Daily News|date=2 November 2010 }}</ref> and she became one of two girls who split the role, with each of the girls performing four shows per week.
==Illness and death== Several months after her September 2009 debut in ''The Lion King'', she was forced to leave the show after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Broadway's 'Lion King' Star Dies of Cancer |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/shannon-tavarez-11-year-star-broadways-lion-king/story?id=12036106 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> Because of her African-American and Dominican ethnic backgrounds, she faced much greater difficulty in attempts to find a match for a bone marrow transplant.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-12-11 |title=Lion King Actress Dies After Bone Marrow Match is Not Found |url=https://www.foxnews.com/health/lion-king-actress-dies-after-bone-marrow-match-is-not-found |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref> Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and 50 Cent recruited prospective donors from among their fans to help her find a bone marrow donor.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-11-02 |title=Lion King's 11-Year-Old Star, Befriended by Alicia, Rihanna and 50 Cent, Dies of Cancer |url=https://www.eonline.com/news/208961/lion-king-s-11-year-old-star-befriended-by-alicia-rihanna-and-50-cent-dies-of-cancer |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=E! Online}}</ref> Her former co-stars from ''The Lion King'' also helped her by selling "Shine for Shannon" key chains and bracelets to raise money to help her mother pay for her medical bills.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Broadway theater dims lights to honor actress |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/broadway-theater-dims-lights-honor-actress-wbna39987293 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=TODAY.com |date=3 November 2010 |language=en}}</ref>
Tavarez was then able to find a partial bone-marrow donor match.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Broadway turns out to help sick 'Lion King' actress |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38387539 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=NBC News |date=23 July 2010 |language=en}}</ref> She subsequently had an umbilical cord transplant (prior to which she'd been undergoing chemotherapy<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lion King Alum Shannon Tavarez Loses Battle with Leukemia at Age 11 |url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/154138/lion-king-alum-shannon-tavarez-loses-battle-with-leukemia-at-age-11/ |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=Broadway.com |language=en}}</ref>) because the doctors could not find a full bone-marrow-donor match for her.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Lion King' actress Shannon Tavarez to get transplant of umbilical-cord blood for leukemia treatment |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/lion-king-actress-shannon-tavarez-transplant-umbilical-cord-blood-leukemia-treatment-article-1.201347 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=New York Daily News|date=13 August 2010 }}</ref> She died on November 1, 2010, at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, at the age of 11.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Weber |first=Bruce |date=2010-11-03 |title=Shannon Tavarez, Nala in 'Lion King', Dies at 11 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/theater/03tavarez.html |accessdate=2023-04-05 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
The lights at the Minskoff Theatre, where ''The Lion King'' was playing, were dimmed in her memory on the night that she died,<ref>[http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/young-lion-king-star-shannon-tavarez-recalled-selfless-day-death-article-1.450423 Young 'Lion King' star Shannon Tavarez recalled as 'selfless' day after death <!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and her funeral was held at Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York.<ref>[http://people.com/celebrity/shannon-tavarez-lovingly-remembered-at-funeral/ Shannon Tavarez Lovingly Remembered at Funeral <!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
In a statement released following her death, her mother (who started Shannon's S.H.A.R.E Foundation a year thereafter) said that "Shannon's dream was to perform on stage, and that she did."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101106003156/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20438972,00.html Rihanna Mourns Shannon Tavarez <!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fundraiser honors the memory of 'Lion King' actress Shannon Tavarez, who drew 15,000 marrow donors |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fundraiser-honors-memory-lion-king-actress-shannon-tavarez-drew-15-000-marrow-donors-article-1.973032 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=New York Daily News|date=6 November 2011 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [http://shannonsshare.org/ Shannon's S.H.A.R.E Foundation]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavarez, Shannon}} Category:1999 births Category:2010 deaths Category:American child actresses Category:American people of Dominican Republic descent Category:American stage actresses Category:Deaths from leukemia in New York (state) Category:Child deaths from disease Category:Actresses from Queens, New York Category:21st-century American women singers