Ali is an alumna of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and a groundbreaking performer who made history as the first actress in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway. Ali won a Tony for her performance in the revival of Oklahoma! and earned a Barrymore Award nomination for starring in The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In addition to her work on and off-Broadway, she has soloed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, New York's Town Hall, and Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall.