Lynn Whitfield
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| Lynn Whitfield | |||||||
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| Born | Lynn Butler-Smith May 6, 1953 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA |
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Lynn Whitfield (May 6, 1953 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress most famous for portraying entertainment pioneer Josephine Baker in 1991. Her other roles include A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Eve's Bayou (1998).
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[edit] Biography
Whitfield had a series of television appearances before her film career began, including playing Jill Thomas in the award-winning series 2 of Hill Street Blues.
After gaining attention on the stage as one of the young women of color who people Ntozake Shange's poetic panorama of the black female experience, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf", Whitfield began appearing in supporting roles in such films as Doctor Detroit (1983) and Silverado (1985) but did not achieve real success until starring in the television films The George McKenna Story, Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI, (both 1986) and the miniseries The Women of Brewster Place (1989).
Whitfield vaulted to international attention in the title role of The Josephine Baker Story (1991), the HBO biopic requiring her to age from 18 to 68 to portray the Follies Bergere star turned Resistance and civil rights fighter. In a highly-publicized casting call, she beat out more than 500 women considered world-wide for the role and won an Emmy, achieving "the greatest sense of accomplishment and realization of my vision. It absolutely called upon everything I thought I could do at that point." Her triumph as Baker, however, proved both a blessing and a curse as she became so closely identified with the Jazz Age legend that other opportunities were slow to come along. Whitfield had worked as a regular in two ABC series (Heartbreak and Equal Justice) prior to playing Baker, and the dearth of good offers encouraged her to return to the small screen opposite Bill Cosby in "The Cosby Mysteries" (NBC, 1994-95).
Though critical response to such vehicles as A Thin Line Between Love and Hate and Gone Fishin' (both 1996) was tepid, these features increased her exposure. Whitfield then experienced a career comeback with Eve's Bayou (1997) playing the head of a prosperous, socially prominent black family in Louisiana. She returned to a similar milieu as snobby Martha's Vineyard matron Corinne Coles in the ABC miniseries The Wedding (1998), executive produced by Oprah Winfrey. In recent years, she starred as Dorthea Garibaldi in both The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2. She is recently starring in Mama, I Want To Sing! with Ciara. Lynn Whitfield also starred in the 2006 drama Madea's Family Reunion.
Also credited as: Lynn Butler-Smith.
[edit] Filmography
1982 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
1983 Doctor Detroit
1985 Silverado
1985 The Slugger's Wife
1986 Johnnie May Gibson: F.B.I.
1987 Jaws: The Revenge
1987 Mace
1988 HeartBeat
1988 Dead Aim
1989 The Women of Brewster Place
1990 The Josephine Baker Story
1991 A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story
1992 Stompin' At The Savoy
1993 Taking The Heat
1994 In The Army Now
1994 State of Emergency
1994 The Cosby Mysteries
1996 Sophie and the Moonhanger
1996 A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
1997 Junior's Grove
1997 Gone Fishin'
1997 Eve's Bayou
1997 Touched By an Angel: Amazing Grace, Part 1
1997 Touched By an Angel: Amazing Grace, Part 2
1998 Stepmom
1998 Deep In My Heart
1998 The Color of Courage
1998 Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding
1999 Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story
2000 Elizabeti's Doll
2001 A Time For Dancing
2001 A Girl Thing
2001 The Ugly Duckling
2003 The Cheetah Girls
2003 Head of State
2003 Redemption
2003 Louisiana: History
2006 Madea's Family Reunion
2006 The Cheetah Girls 2
2007 The Confessions of a Call Girl
2008 The Women
2008 Mama, I Want To Sing!
[edit] Awards/Nominations
- BET Comedy Awards
- 2004, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Head of State (film) (Nominated)
- Black Movie Awards
- 2006, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Madea's Family Reunion (Nominated)
- Black Reel Awards
- 2005, Best Actress (Network/Cable): Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (Winner)
- 2004, Best Supporting Actress (Network/Cable): The Cheetah Girls (Nominated)
- 2000, Best Actress (Network/Cable): Love Songs (Nominated)
- Emmy Awards
- 1991, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries/Television Movie: The Joesphine Baker Story (Winner)
- Golden Globes
- 1992, Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series/Television Movie: The Joesphine Baker Story (Nominated)
- Image Awards
- 2005, Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie/Mini-Series: Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (Winner)
- 2005, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special/Series: The Cheetah Girls (Nominated)
- 2000, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special/Series: The Planet of Junior Brown (Winner)
- 2000, Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie/Mini-Series: Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story (Nominated)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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