Ali Stroker grew up in New Jersey with her parents, Jody and Jim Stroker, as well as an older brother, Jake. At the age of two, Stroker and her brother were in a car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury that left Ali paralyzed from the waist down. Unable to walk, she uses a wheelchair.[4] She attended Ridgewood High School, where she was senior class president and starred in school musicals.[5]
Stroker starred in the Paper Mill Playhouse's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She later reprised her role in this show at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and that performance earned her a Barrymore Award nomination.[8]
In 2012, she auditioned for The Glee Project and was cast for the 12-episode series. She made it to the final episode and placed second, earning a guest role on Glee, playing Betty Pillsbury, Ms. Pillsbury's niece, in Season 4, Episode 14: "I Do".
In 2014, she had a role in the film Cotton, also known as "Everyday Miracles".
In 2014 and 2015, Stroker had a three-episode role playing Wendy in the MTV series Faking It.
In 2015, she made history by becoming the first actor who uses a wheelchair to appear on a Broadway stage. She originated the role of Anna in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 revival of Spring Awakening.[9]
In 2017, Stroker was cast as Tamara in the ABC show Ten Days in the Valley.[10] The series was cancelled after 1 season due to low ratings.
In 2020, she was in Lifetime's Christmas Ever After, airing on December 6, 2020.
In 2021, she played Detective Allison Mulaney on the police procedural television series Blue Bloods,[13] and played Paulette on the mystery-comedy television series Only Murders in the Building.[14]
Stroker co-chaired an awards luncheon in 2016 for Women Who Care, which supports United Cerebral Palsy of New York City.[15] She is a founding member of Be More Heroic, an anti-bullying campaign which tours the country connecting with thousands of students each year.[16] She has gone to South Africa with ARTS InsideOut where she has held theater classes and workshops for women and children affected by AIDS.[2]
Personal life
Stroker is bisexual[17] and dated fellow The Glee Project contestant Dani Shay from 2012 to 2015.[18]
Stroker attended the 2019 Tony Awards with her then-boyfriend (now husband), theater director and actor David Perlow.[19][20] She and Perlow reconnected in 2015[21] and are founding directors of ATTENTIONTheatre.[22]
^Herzog, Laura (September 11, 2015). "Actress who uses a wheelchair a likely first for Broadway". NJ.com. Stroker, who was president of Ridgewood High School president during her senior year, also starred in several high school productions including as Maria in West Side Story, and Cosette in Les Miz.
