--- title: Misty Copeland by Nadia Comaneci: TIME 100 description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-15T22:20:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-21T07:22:27.584Z og:title: Misty Copeland by Nadia Comaneci: TIME 100 og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a8a35eecc0e706e/6987eb1235ba6f9db2c0adc5/misty-copeland-time-100-2015-pioneers-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Misty Copeland by Nadia Comaneci: TIME 100 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Misty Copeland by Nadia Comaneci: TIME 100 twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a8a35eecc0e706e/6987eb1235ba6f9db2c0adc5/misty-copeland-time-100-2015-pioneers-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 15, 2015 # Misty Copeland ## Video: Behind the Scenes With Misty Copeland [Watch (HLS stream): Behind the Scenes With Misty Copeland](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QD1U3Qm9.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-04-16. Take a look behind the scenes of TIME's photoshoot with Misty Copeland._ by Nadia Comaneci  Sebastian Kim for TIME Like all gymnasts, I’ve done some ballet—it’s a part of our program. And people don’t realize the tremendous amount of time and work you have to put in to do the maneuvers they do. Ballerinas like Misty Copeland look so beautiful and perfect, but it takes thousands of hours of hard work to make it look that easy. It was an honor to learn that a movie about me inspired a 7-year-old Misty to see the joy in movement. When I competed in the 1976 Olympics, no one thought that a 14-year-old from a place people couldn’t find on a map could contend. Misty proves that success is not about how you grow up or the color of your skin. Her story—of overcoming personal and physical challenges to become a soloist at the American Ballet Theatre—is the story of someone who followed her dreams and refused to give up. In that way, she is a model for all young girls. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. If you have the passion like Misty, you can be the best at what you do. _Comaneci is a five-time Olympic gold medalist_ Pick up the TIME 100 issue on newsstands, or [click here to buy it online](http://backissues.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1028598.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/"},"headline":"Misty Copeland","datePublished":"2015-04-15T22:20:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:27.584Z","description":"Ballet's breakout star","url":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a8a35eecc0e706e/6987eb1235ba6f9db2c0adc5/misty-copeland-time-100-2015-pioneers-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a8a35eecc0e706e/6987eb1235ba6f9db2c0adc5/misty-copeland-time-100-2015-pioneers-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/","name":"Misty Copeland"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes With Misty Copeland","description":"Take a look behind the scenes of TIME's photoshoot with Misty Copeland.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QD1U3Qm9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-16T01:12:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QD1U3Qm9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3823308/misty-copeland-2015-time-100/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```