Global Black Voices: News from around the World
- Documentary “Satisfied” intertwines Renée Elise Goldsberry’s Broadway triumphs with personal sacrifices behind her career.
- Fertility journey: she shared multiple pregnancy losses before welcoming her son and later adopting a daughter.
- Purpose: the film returns Hamilton to her children, using archival footage, songs, and vlogs to preserve family memory.
While many know the miracle of Renée Elise Goldsberry’s career, few may know the miracle of her family.
Her new documentary, “Satisfied,” which began its limited theatrical run on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, puts both stories side by side.
The 54-year-old actress and singer—best known for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in “Hamilton,” a performance that earned her the 2016 Tony Award—has long been candid about her struggles with fertility. She revealed to People magazine that she experienced pregnancy loss five times before welcoming her son Benjamin, now 16, with her husband Alexis Johnson. Later, the couple adopted their daughter, Brielle.
“I didn’t know that this would happen for me,” she told the publication. “There were so many missed opportunities, there were so many miscarriages. I was trying to get very comfortable with the idea that maybe I would not have a family in that way and I had to figure out how I was going to have a family — and there are so many ways to have a family — I was just trying to open my heart up to other ways it could look. And then, Benjamin.”
“Satisfied,” which shares the name of her showstopping number in “Hamilton,” expands on that deeply personal testimony. Featuring original songs, years of vlogs and home videos, and behind-the-scenes footage from the original 2015 Broadway run of “Hamilton,” the film intertwines Goldsberry’s professional triumphs with the private costs of sustaining a family through them. It also meditates on the toll “Hamilton” exacted from its cast and crew, asking who ultimately pays the price of such a cultural phenomenon.
For Goldsberry, making the documentary was also about giving something back. Premiering first at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, she told the “Today” show at the time that “Satisfied” is a way to return both the time and “Hamilton” itself to her children.
“The beauty of this is that I get to give ‘Hamilton’ back to my children,” she said. “They can see my experience, which they hear about and saw, but to understand that while I was doing it, my joy and fuel was them.”
“Satisfied” is playing in select theaters nationwide through October 2, 2025.
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