Alfre Woodard
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
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.The actress reteamed with HBO in 2003 for the film Unchained Memories, and took on a starring role on ABC's Desperate Housewives in 2006. In addition to appearing on a variety of popular television shows (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, The Practice, Homicide: Life on the Street). Woodard played the part of a woman falsely accused of drug trafficking in the 2009 drama American Violet, and was nominated for yet another Emmy in 2010 for her work on HBO's hit drama True Blood.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | Fatherhood |
|
— | 2021 |
100% | No Small Matter |
|
— | 2020 |
92% | Clemency |
|
— | 2019 |
52% | The Lion King |
|
— | 2019 |
67% | Saint Judy |
|
— | 2019 |
82% | Juanita |
|
— | 2019 |
45% | So B. It |
|
$8k | 2017 |
88% | Burning Sands |
|
— | 2017 |
90% | Captain America: Civil War |
|
$408.1M | 2016 |
No Score Yet | Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race |
|
— | 2016 |
91% | Mississippi Grind |
|
$0.2M | 2015 |
No Score Yet | Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band |
|
— | 2015 |
No Score Yet | Knucklehead |
|
— | 2015 |
No Score Yet | The Hadza: Last Of The First |
|
— | 2014 |
29% | Annabelle |
|
— | 2014 |
No Score Yet | Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice: Preserving the Gift of Black Sacred Music |
|
— | 2014 |
95% | 12 Years a Slave |
|
$50.7M | 2013 |
No Score Yet | Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa |
|
— | 2013 |
No Score Yet | Steel Magnolias (2012) |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Steel Magnolias |
|
— | 2012 |
75% | American Violet |
|
$0.5M | 2009 |
No Score Yet | AmericanEast |
|
— | 2008 |
No Score Yet | Reach for Me |
|
— | 2008 |
53% | The Family That Preys |
|
$37.1M | 2008 |
No Score Yet | Black Hollywood: Blaxploitation and Advancing an Independent Black Cinema |
|
— | 2008 |
No Score Yet | The Medal of Honor |
|
— | 2008 |
No Score Yet | Pictures of Hollis Woods |
|
— | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty |
|
— | 2007 |
92% | King Leopold's Ghost |
|
— | 2006 |
44% | Take the Lead |
|
$34.8M | 2006 |
61% | Something New |
|
$11.5M | 2006 |
No Score Yet | The Water Is Wide |
|
— | 2006 |
38% | Beauty Shop |
|
$36.4M | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Martin's Big Words ... and More Stories from the African-American Tradition |
|
— | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Dot...and More Stories to Make You Feel Good |
|
— | 2005 |
32% | The Forgotten |
|
$66.7M | 2004 |
No Score Yet | A Wrinkle in Time |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness |
|
— | 2004 |
35% | Radio |
|
$52.3M | 2003 |
39% | The Singing Detective |
|
$0.3M | 2003 |
40% | The Core |
|
$31.1M | 2003 |
No Score Yet | Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property |
|
— | 2003 |
No Score Yet | Trial of the Moke |
|
— | 2002 |
80% | The Wild Thornberrys Movie |
|
$39.8M | 2002 |
80% | Searching for Debra Winger |
|
— | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives |
|
— | 2002 |
No Score Yet | American Legends |
|
— | 2001 |
42% | K-PAX |
|
$50.1M | 2001 |
No Score Yet | Holiday Heart |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks |
|
— | 2000 |
8% | Lost Souls |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story |
|
— | 2000 |
64% | Dinosaur |
|
$135.7M | 2000 |
83% | Love and Basketball |
|
— | 2000 |
52% | What's Cooking? |
|
$0.7M | 2000 |
57% | Mumford |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | The Wishing Tree |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | The Underground Railroad |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | People's Century: 1900-1999 |
|
— | 1999 |
79% | Down in the Delta |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | The Voyage of La Amistad: A Quest for Freedom |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Follow Me Home |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | Miss Evers' Boys |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | The Member of the Wedding |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | People's Century: 1900-1999 |
|
— | 1997 |
92% | Star Trek: First Contact |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | A Step Toward Tomorrow |
|
— | 1996 |
76% | Primal Fear |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Gulliver's Travels |
|
— | 1996 |
62% | How to Make an American Quilt |
|
— | 1995 |
No Score Yet | The Piano Lesson |
|
— | 1995 |
77% | Crooklyn |
|
— | 1994 |
No Score Yet | Race to Freedom: The Story of The Underground Railroad |
|
— | 1994 |
37% | Blue Chips |
|
— | 1994 |
No Score Yet | Frederick Douglass |
|
— | 1994 |
82% | Bopha! |
|
— | 1993 |
55% | Heart and Souls |
|
— | 1993 |
67% | Rich in Love |
|
— | 1993 |
100% | Passion Fish |
|
— | 1992 |
14% | The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag |
|
— | 1992 |
77% | Grand Canyon |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story |
|
— | 1989 |
75% | Miss Firecracker |
|
— | 1989 |
71% | Scrooged |
|
— | 1988 |
No Score Yet | Mandela |
|
— | 1987 |
40% | Extremities |
|
— | 1986 |
No Score Yet | Unnatural Causes |
|
— | 1986 |
No Score Yet | Go Tell It on the Mountain |
|
— | 1985 |
90% | The Killing Floor |
|
— | 1985 |
No Score Yet | Sweet Revenge |
|
— | 1984 |
67% | Cross Creek |
|
— | 1983 |
No Score Yet | For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide |
|
— | 1982 |
No Score Yet | The Ambush Murders |
|
— | 1982 |
No Score Yet | The Sophisticated Gents |
|
— | 1981 |
No Score Yet | Health |
|
— | 1980 |
No Score Yet | Freedom Road |
|
— | 1979 |
67% | Remember My Name |
|
— | 1978 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
84% |
Empire
2015-2020
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Inside the Actors Studio
1994-2019
|
|
|
43% |
See
2019
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Late Late Show With James Corden
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Women, War and Peace
2011-2019
|
|
|
87% |
Marvel's Luke Cage
2016-2018
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Today
2017-2019
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Talk
2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen
2009
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
A Path Appears
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Who Do You Think You Are?
2010-2018
|
|
|
28% |
State of Affairs
2014-2015
|
|
|
81% |
Copper
2012-2013
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Independent Lens
1999
|
|
|
51% |
Private Practice
2007-2013
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Wendy Williams Show
2008-2020
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The View
1997
|
|
|
70% |
True Blood
2008-2014
|
|
|
84% |
Grey's Anatomy
2005
|
|
|
38% |
Memphis Beat
2010-2011
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Lopez Tonight
2009-2011
|
|
|
31% |
Three Rivers
2009-2010
|
|
|
73% |
My Own Worst Enemy
2008
|
|
|
72% |
Desperate Housewives
2004-2012
|
|
|
30% |
Inconceivable
2005
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Practice
1997-2004
|
|
|
91% |
Homicide: Life on the Street
1993-1999
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Experience
1988
|
|
|
93% |
Frasier
1993-2004
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
St. Elsewhere
1982-1988
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
L.A. Law
1986-1994
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Playhouse
1982-1996
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Hill Street Blues
1981-1987
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The White Shadow
1978-1981
|
|
|
Quotes from Alfre Woodard's Characters
Evelyn: | I like big butts and I cannot lie. |
Lily Sloane: | Borg? Sounds Swedish. |
Alice Pratt: | It's not that I don't trust you: it is your inner thoughts that give me pause. |
Lily Sloane: | Jean-Luc blow up the damned ship! |
Capt. Jean-Luc Picard: | NO!!! |
Capt. Jean-Luc Picard: | NO! |
Mrs. Whatsit: | In all the one of who you are now. In the glory of everything you are becoming. In all that you feel, you have something the darkness does not have. Can never have, my darling. |
Meg Murry: | What? What is it? |
Mrs. Whatsit: | It is only yours if you find it for yourself. |
Lily Sloane: | Definitely not Swedish. |
Lily Sloane: | You broke your little ships. |
Pam: | I am tired of her looking down her nose at us... like we didn't live in the same house or the same neighborhood! |
Andrea: | I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. |
Alice Pratt: | This is your sister! When are you two going to act like it? |
Alice Pratt: | I've never seen you drive! Where's Morgan Freeman? |
Alice Pratt: | I've never seen you drive! Where is Morgan Freeman? |
Charlotte Cartwright: | She's seen me through two divorces. |
Alice Pratt: | Three. |
Charlotte Cartwright: | Three? |
Alice Pratt: | Three. |
Charlotte Cartwright: | Oh right, I try to forget that one. |
Alice Pratt: | What you're up to now is only going to lead to disaster. |