Alfre Woodard - Biography

Last Editor: Gerard.Painter				Alfre Woodard Biography -   Name : Alfre Woodard Date of birth : 8 November 1952 Birthplace : Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA Height : 5' 3½ Profession : Actress

Alfre Woodard Trivia -

She was so impressed with the script of the independent film Follow Me Home (1996) that she offered to play the role of Evey without pay; much to the delight and awe of filmmaker Peter Bratt. Played Dr. Roxanne Turner in "St. Elsewhere" (1982) and years later in an episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993). Tom Fontana was a writer for the first, and an executive producer for the second. As of September 13, 2003, she now holds the record of being the most honored African American actress in Primetime Emmy history. Until her win (as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "The Practice" (1997)), she was tied with Cicely Tyson at three Primetime Emmys apiece. She won her first Primetime Emmy in 1984 as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for a three-episode guest stint on "Hill Street Blues" (1981), as the mother of a young boy accidentally killed by a police officer. Her second Primetime Emmy came in 1986 as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series (a category which has since been split into male and female equivalents) for the "Pilot" episode of "L.A. Law" (1986) playing a woman dying of leukemia who claims to have been a victim of gang rape. In 1997, she won her third Primetime Emmy for Miss Evers' Boys (1997) (TV) against stiff competition from the likes of Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Stockard Channing. Among the Star Trek toys released for the movie Star Trek: First Contact (1996), an action figure was made of Alfre in the likeness of her character Lili in the film.

Alfre Woodard Detailed Biography -

Intense, versatile African-American actress Alfre Woodard attended Boston University, then made her stage bow in 1974 with Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. After a few minor appearances in films like Remember My Name (1978) and H.E.A.L.T.H (1979), the Tulsa, OK, native was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Geechee in 1983's Cross Creek. She went on to further television acclaim during the decade, appearing on St. Elsewhere and winning Emmys for her recurring roles on Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, and an ACE award for the made-for-cable Mandela (1987). In film, the actress consistently shone in roles that featured her as unconventional women who usually had a troubled past; after a memorable appearance in Miss Firecracker (1989), she went on to star in such films as Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) and John Sayles' Passion Fish (1992), for which she won a Golden Globe nomination. Other notable film appearances included those in Rich in Love (1993), Crooklyn (1994), and Maya Angelou's Down in the Delta, in which Woodard played a single mother with drug and alcohol problems who returns to her family's southern hometown. In 1999, the actress starred in two films, Funny Valentines and Mumford, Lawrence Kasdan's tale of a small-town psychologist. Woodard has also continued to work in television, earning considerable acclaim for her performances. In 1995, she won an Emmy nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Best Actress Award for her performance in the The Piano Lesson, and two years later won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award for her portrayal of the title character of Miss Evers' Boys, a nurse who consoled many of the subjects of the notorious 1930s Tuskeegee Study of Untreated Blacks with Syphilis. In addition, she has done a fair amount of narration, lending her voice to a variety of television documentaries.