Biography

Her mother, a former cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs, had studied dance.

Is of African, German and Italian descent.

In 2008, Copeland won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, which funds study with master teachers and trainers outside of the American Ballet Theatre. The two-year fellowships are in recognition of "young artists of extraordinary talent with the goal of providing them with additional resources in order to fully realize their potential". In 2013, she was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In 2014, Copeland was named to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford for her contributions to classical ballet and helping to diversify the art form. Copeland was a Dance Magazine Awards 2014 honoree. After her promotion as principal dancer, Copeland was named one of Glamour's Women of the Year for 2015, one of ESPN's 2015 Impact 25 athletes and influencers who have made the greatest impact for women in sports, and, by Barbara Walters, one of the 10 "most fascinating" people of 2015. In 2016, Copeland won a Shorty Award for Best in Dance in Social Media.

Copeland began learning "en Pointe" after only three months of ballet study.

Copeland began her ballet studies at the ripe age of 13 at the San Pedro Dance Center when Cynthia Bradley began picking her up from school.