Thomas L. Moxley

Thomas L. Moxley (c. 1828, Baltimore — 7 July 1890, Baltimore) was an American actor, blackface minstrel show entertainer, and theatre manager. As a stage actor he performed under the name Master Floyd and was an acclaimed female impersonator in minstrel shows. He formed a close partnership with the minstrel show impresario, actor, and theatre manager George Kunkel. He was a leading member of Kunkel's Nightingales, one of the most popular minstrel shows of the 1850s and 1860s, and toured widely with the troupe during this period. In 1855 he formed a theatre management firm with Kunkel and John T. Ford; co-managing multiple theaters in Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. These included the National Theatre in Washington D.C., and the Richmond Theatre (then known as the Marshall Theatre) in Virginia. When Kunkel adapted Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin for the stage in 1861, Moxley portrayed the role of Topsy. In his obituary he was credited as the first actor to perform the role of Topsy in the theatre.

Moxley died of heart failure in Baltimore, Maryland on 7 July 1890 at the age of 62.