Lynn Whitfield

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Lynn Whitfield (née Butler-Smith; born May 6, 1953) is an American actress and producer.

She began her acting career in television and theatre, before progressing to supporting roles in film.

She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance as Josephine Baker in the HBO biographical drama film The Josephine Baker Story (1991). Whitfield spent her career after breakthrough performance as Josephine Baker playing the leading roles in a number of made for television movies in the 1990s, and had several starring roles in films, include performances in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996), Gone Fishin' (1997), Eve's Bayou (1997), Stepmom (1998), Head of State (2003), Madea's Family Reunion (2006) and The Women (2008).

Whitfield also starred in a number of smaller movies in the 2000s and 2010s.

In 2016, she began starring as villainous Lady Mae Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf.

Whitfield has won six NAACP Image Awards.

Early life

Whitfield was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Jean (née Butler), a former president of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, and Dr. Valerian Smith, who was also a composer who wrote the musicals, The Supper and The Wake. Her mother is a founding member of the Baton Rouge chapter of The Links Incorporated and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Whitfield is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. She is the eldest of four children and a third-generation BFA graduate from Howard University. Both parents were instrumental in developing Whitfield's initial interest in acting, as they were actively involved in the Baton Rouge art scene. Her love of movies was shared by her maternal grandmother, Estelle Devall Butler, who exposed her to them. By age five, Whitfield decided she wanted to be in them.

Personal life

Whitfield has been married twice. Her first husband, from 1974 to 1978, was Vantile Whitfield. From 1990 to 1992, she was married to director Brian Gibson, with whom she had a daughter, Grace.

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Career

Following graduation, she first gained attention on the stage by appearing with the Black Repertory Company in Washington, D.C., as a pioneer of black theater. She then travelled to New York and appeared in such shows as The Great Macdaddy and Showdown Time before receiving international recognition for her 1977 performance "for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf" with Alfre Woodard.

Jill Thomas, a nefarious NBC serial drama on Hill Street Blues, made her debut as Jill Thomas in 1981. She appeared in Doctor Detroit (1983), playing the supporting role of Thelma Cleland. She appeared in Wife, Silverado, and Jaws: The Revenge, a Slugger's Wife, Slugger. Denzel Washington and Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI as the principal protagonist and in the ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place alongside Oprah Winfrey and Cicely Tyson, she appeared in the television series The George McKenna Story opposite Denzel Washington and Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI as the title character and Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI as the title character. In 1988 ABC female-driven medical drama series HeartBeat, Kate Mulgrew, Laura Johnson, and Gail Strickland were among the cast members.

Whitfield's role in The Josephine Baker Story (1991) depicting an American who became a Follies Bergère actor in World War II and a civil rights campaigner. The HBO biopic required her to age from 18 to 68. Whitfield was chosen over hundreds of women after a highly publicized casting call. She appeared on-screen in the film nude. "Whitfield is extremely good as the legendary singer-dancer who rose to fame in the '20s for her throaty singing and her iconic "banana dance," Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said, "a wiggly little number was executed wearing nothing but a skirt of real bananas." Whitfield "powerfully portrays [Baker's] ardent resolve," the New York Times said. Whitfield received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie role, and she said it gave her "the greatest sense of achievement and realization of my vision." It came as a result of everything I could do at the time." She has also been nominated for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film, as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special.

Whitfield played a recurring role in the ABC legal drama Equal Justice, playing opposite Joe Morton after her debut as Josephine Baker. Vanessa L. Williams, Jasmine Guy, and Vanessa Bell Calloway, as Halle Berry's mother; The Heart (1991) with Terry Goldwyn; The Nutangle (1994) opposite Anne Bancroft; Stephanie and the Son (1994) with Joe Mantegna (1992) as Halle Berry's mother; State of Emergency (1994) with Joe Mantegna (1994) with Joe Goldwyn; State of Emergency (1994) with Linda Hamilton; She appeared on The Cosby Mysteries, a short-lived television detective series, from 1994 to 1995, and then guest-starred on Martin and Touched by an Angel.

In the dark romantic comedy film A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Whitfield was cast as the female lead opposite Martin Lawrence in 1996. Lawrence was 12 years younger than Whitfield, who was then 42, at the time of filming. The film earned over $35 million against a budget of $8 million. She co-starred opposite Danny Glover and Rosanna Arquette in the comedy film Gone Fishin' in 1997 and played the mother of Jurnee Smollett's title role in Eve's Bayou, Canada's critically acclaimed independent drama. Whitfield played an oncologist in the comedy-drama film Stepmom in 1998.

Whitfield had several supporting roles on television and in films in the 2000s. She appeared in the Chris Rock comedy film Head of State (2004) and Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion (2006). Whitfield appeared in The Women (2008), The Rebound (2009), and Mama, I Want to Sing (2011), as well as other low-profile B-movies. Dorothea Garibaldi appeared in the Disney Channel films The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2.

Whitfield appeared on television and Without a Trace in the 2000s. She appeared in ABC's How to Get Away with Murder from 2014 to 2015. She appeared on Hit the Floor and appeared as the violent mother of May (Rochelle Aytes) on Mistresses.

Whitfield appeared in Greenleaf, the Oprah Winfrey Network original scripted drama series about the uncensible life of the Greenleaf family and their sprawling Memphis megachurch. Lady Mae Greenleaf, the illustrious minister's wife and the family's power-hungry matriarch, appeared in the leading role. Keith David, Merle Dandridge, Kim Hawthorne, and Oprah Winfrey appeared in the series. Critics of Whitfield's appearance have lauded her work. "Whitfield has the regal aura of a grand soap opera diva in the tradition of Joan Collins," one observer wrote. In a Drama Series in 2017, she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2019, and 2020, as well as the Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role. After five seasons and 60 episodes, the series came to an end in 2020. Whitfield later appeared in a leading role in Greenleaf's arranged spinoff.

Whitfield co-starred opposite Sanaa Lathan in the romantic comedy film Nappily Ever After, which was released on Netflix in 2018. On the Fox medical drama The Resident in 2019, she costarred Shaunette Renée Wilson's mother, a well-known Nigerian surgeon. In 2021, she co-starred in the comedy film Vacation Friends. In 2022, she's scheduled to appear alongside Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman in the action comedy film The Retirement Plan.

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