Alfre Woodard Biography

ALFRE WOODARD

Date of Birth: November 8, 1952

The Tulsa, Oklahoma native attended Boston University, School of Fine Arts, before making her stage bow in 1974 with Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. Woodard's stage credits include the New York Shakespeare Festival production of David Hare's Map of the World and The Winter's Tale.

After a few minor appearances in films like Remember My Name (1978) and H.E.A.L.T.H (1979), she 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's Passion Fish (1992), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1995, she earned an Emmy nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Best Actress Award for her performance in the The Piano Lesson.

Woodard hit paydirt in 1997 after being honored with an Emmy, a Golden Globe Award, a Cable ACE Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the HBO telefilm Miss Evers' Boys. She played the role of a nurse who consoled many of the subjects of the notorious 1930s Tuskeegee Study of Untreated Blacks with Syphilis.

Woodard has also been featured in My Funny Valentine, Star Trek: First Contact, Primal Fear, How to make an American Quilt, The Forgotten and Beauty Shop. She starred in Annabelle (2014). More recently, she starred in Mississippi Grind (2015).

In addition, she has done a fair amount of narration, lending her voice to a variety of television documentaries.

Filmography:

Mississippi Grind (2015)
Annabelle (2014)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Reach for Me (2008)
American Violet (2008)
The Family That Preys (2008)
Take the Lead (2006)
Something New (2006)
Beauty Shop (2005)
The Forgotten (2004)
Radio (2003)
The Core (2002)
The Wild Thornberrys (2002) (voice)
Baby of the Family (2001)
K-Pax (2001)
Lost Souls (2000)
Dinosaur (2000) (voice)
Love & Basketball (2000)
What's Cooking? (2000)
Mumford (1999)
The Wishing Tree (1999)
Down in the Delta (1998)
Brown Sugar (1998)
Follow Me Home (1997)
Secrets (1997)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
A Step Toward Tomorrow (1996)
Primal Fear (1996)
How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
Statistically Speaking (1995)
Blue Chips (1994)
Crooklyn (1994)
Bopha! (1993)
Souls (1993)
Passion Fish (1992)
The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992)
Rich in Love (1992)
Grand Canyon (1991)
Pretty Hattie's Baby (1991)
Miss Firecracker (1989)
Scrooged (1988)
Extremities (1986)
Cross Creek (1983)
H.E.A.L.T.H. (1979)
Remember My Name (1978)