Lynn Whitfield
Birthday: Born in 1953-02-15 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Deathday: Alive
Lynn Whitfield (née Smith; born February 15, 1953) is an American actress. 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 Limited Series or Movie and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her breakout performance as Josephine Baker in the HBO biographical film The Josephine Baker Story (1991). In the 1990s, Whitfield played leading roles in a number of made-for-television movies and had several starring roles in theatrical films, including 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 movies in the 2000s and 2010s. From 2016 to 2020, she starred as Lady Mae Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network dramatic series Greenleaf, for which she won critical acclaim and garnered two NAACP Image Awards and a Gracie Award. She later appeared in the films Nappily Ever After (2018), Vacation Friends (2021), and The Retirement Plan (2023). Whitfield has won a total of seven NAACP Image Awards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lynn Whitfield, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
Boston Public
Character: Louanna Harper
Principal Steven Harper runs Winslow High School as best as he can while dealing with the demands of the faculty, the students and their parents....
Martin
Character: Ellen
Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole....
Shark
Character:
Notorious Los Angeles defense attorney Sebastian Stark becomes disillusioned with his career after his successful defense of a wife-abuser results in the wife's death. After more than a month trying to come to grips with his situation, he is invited by the Los Angeles district attorney to become a public prosecutor so he can apply his unorthodox-but-effective talents to putting guilty people away instead of putting them back on the street....
Matlock
Character:
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dr...
Miami Vice
Character:
The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel....
The Tyra Banks Show
Character:
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010. The show featured many special guest stars which include Mike Epps, Cheryl Tiegs, Miley Cyrus, LL Cool J, Rihanna, Michael Rapaport, and Robbi Morgan....
Tamron Hall
Character: Self - Guest
Former news host and journalist Tamron Hall discusses all things topical and engages those she interviews in thorough meaningful and entertaining conversations....
Hill Street Blues
Character:
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station....
Without a Trace
Character: Paula Van Doren
The series follows the ventures of a Missing Persons Unit of the FBI in New York City....
Cagney & Lacey
Character:
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time....
The Cosby Mysteries
Character:
The Cosby Mysteries was an American television mystery series that starred Bill Cosby. It is the first television series to star Cosby since The Cosby Show and lasted only one season. Actor/Rapper Mos Def appeared in several episodes....
FlashForward
Character: Anastasia Markham
When the entire world blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds, everyone sees a flash of their own future 6 months from the present. For some, the future is hopeful, while for others, it is unexpected. For a few, it doesn't seem to exist. Knowing their fate will alter each person's life, destinies will be changed....
Trauma Center
Character:
...
HeartBeat
Character: Dr. Cory Banks
The professional and private lives of the predominantly female staff of the Women's Medical Arts, a progressive clinic with a mandate to breathe new life into the doctor-patient relationship....
How to Get Away with Murder
Character: Mary Walker
A sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor. They become entangled in a murder plot and will shake the entire university and change the course of their lives....
Chasing Life
Character: Karen Callahan
April, an aspiring journalist, is balancing her ambitious career with her family and a new office romance. In an unexpected twist of fate, April learns that she has leukemia....
Greenleaf
Character: Lady Mae Greenleaf
The unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family and their sprawling Memphis megachurch, where scandalous secrets and lies are as numerous as the faithful. Born of the church, the Greenleaf family love and care for each other, but beneath the surface lies a den of iniquity—greed, adultery, sibling rivalry and conflicting values—that threatens to tear apart the very core of their faith that holds them together....
Hill Street Blues
Character: Jill Thomas
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station....
Matt Houston
Character: Val
Matt Houston is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1982 to 1985. Created by Lawrence Gordon, the series was produced by Aaron Spelling....
Promised Land
Character: Dr. Serena Hall
Promised Land is an American drama series which aired on CBS from 1996 to 1999. It is a spin-off from another series, Touched by an Angel....
Fatal Attraction
Character: Narrator (voice)
Each pulse-pounding hour-long episode centers around an incredible and dangerous romance. Shocking crime, kidnapping or even murder is only half of the story! In the end, the “true love” that draws these couples together isn’t the kind that celebrates silver anniversaries – instead it leads to cross-country manhunts, bizarre cover-ups and dramatic trials. Driven by powerful, real-life stories, Fatal Attraction weaves together intimate, first-person interviews, exclusive interrogation footage and...
Tall Tales & Legends
Character: Pollie Ann
An anthology series that showcases various mythical characters and incidents throughout history....
The Resident
Character: Josephine Okeke
A tough, brilliant senior resident guides an idealistic young doctor through his first day, pulling back the curtain on what really happens, both good and bad, in modern-day medicine....
Strong Medicine
Character: Dr. Marshall
The lives of staff in the womens' health clinic of a fictitious hospital in Philadelphia....
Touched by an Angel
Character: Dr. Serena Hall
Monica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives....
Golden Globe Awards
Character: Self - Nomine
An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....
Snoops
Character: Denise Kendall
Snoops is an American crime themed comedy-drama series which aired for one season from September 1989 to July 1990 on CBS. The series was created and executive produced by series star Tim Reid and Sam Egan....
St. Denis Medical
Character: Barb
An eclectic group of underfunded yet dedicated doctors and nurses navigates caring for patients — and each other — while keeping it all together at an Oregon hospital....
The Chi
Character: Alicia
A relevant, timely and distinctive coming-of-age story following a half dozen interrelated characters in the South Side of Chicago. The story centers on Brandon, an ambitious and confident young man who dreams about opening a restaurant of his own someday, but is conflicted between the promise of a new life and his responsibility to his mother and teenage brother back in the South Side....
Movie Credits
Jaws: The Revenge
Character: Louisa
After another deadly shark attack, Ellen Brody decides she has had enough of New England's Amity Island and moves to the Caribbean to join her son, Michael, and his family. But a great white shark has followed her there, hungry for more lives....
The Women of Brewster Place
Character: Ciel
A multigenerational story of the lives of several black women who call an inner-city tenement home....
Doctor Detroit
Character: Thelma Cleland
A shy but gentle man named Clifford Skridlow is a professor of comparative literature at the financially-strapped fictional Monroe College in Chicago. A chance encounter with four beautiful women at a restaurant changes his life forever....
The Ugly Duckling
Character: Narrator (voice)
By Hans Christian Andersen; Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; Narrated by Lynn Whitfield Only a mother could love this ugliest of ducklings who is teased for his awkward appearance. But seasons change---and so does he---into a graceful swan....
The Rebound
Character: Laura Reilly
Upon discovering her husband's infidelity, Sandy leaves the suburbs and moves into the city. There, she befriends Aram, a guy whose wife only married him so she could get a green card. Sandy hires Aram to be her nanny, and it isn't long until Aram and Sandy find out they get along wonderfully and start to date. But is their relationship real or is it, in fact, just a rebound for both of them?...
Silverado
Character: Rae
Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are....
Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
Character: Barbara Becnel
Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection....
The Cheetah Girls
Character: Dorothea Garibaldi
A four-member teen girl group named the Cheetah Girls go to a Manhattan High School for the Performing Arts and try to become the first freshmen to win the talent show in the school's history. During the talent show auditions, they meet a big-time producer named Jackal Johnson, who tries to make the group into superstars, but the girls run into many problems....
Gone Fishin'
Character: Angie
Two fishing fanatics get in trouble when their fishing boat gets stolen while on a trip....
Head of State
Character: Debra Lassiter
When a presidential candidate dies unexpectedly in the middle of the campaign, the Democratic party unexpectedly picks a Washington, D.C. alderman as his replacement....
In the Army Now
Character: Sgt. Ladd
Bones Conway and Jack Kaufman didn't really know what they were in for when they enlisted in the U.S. Army; they just wanted to get a job and make some money. But these new recruits are so hapless, they run the risk of getting kicked out before their military careers even begin. Soon, though, they're sent to the Middle East to fight for their country -- which they manage to do in their own wacky ways....
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Character: Brandi
Nightclub manager Darnell Wright is a perpetual playboy who is almost as devoted to his job as he is to the pursuit of beautiful women. After he sets his sights on the ultra-classy Brandi Web, he launches an all-out assault to win her heart. Ultimately, charm, lust and passion prevail, but Darnell learns the hard way that when you play, you pay. Brandi is much harder to get rid of than she was to get--especially when she realizes that she has a rival vying for Darnell's affection. When he finall...
The George McKenna Story
Character: Bobbie Maxwell
Washington plays a school principal in a tough inner city Los Angeles high school out to rid it of drugs, gangs, low moral of teachers, and restore educational values....
Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story
Character: Bobbie Mallory
When a couple breaks up after four years together, the man is told that the son he has raised as his own isn't his biological one. He must fight to keep him....
All Things Fall Apart
Character: Bee
50 Cent stars as gifted college running back Deon in this touching drama. Deon's world turns upside down when an unexpected crisis jeopardizes his professional ambitions -- and causes him to look at himself and his life in a new way....
Eve's Bayou
Character: Roz Batiste
Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured....
A Time for Dancing
Character: Linda Derricks, the Dance Teacher
Their love of dance, and their friendship, is challenged for two high school girls when one is diagnosed with cancer....
Zora is My Name!
Character:
A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th Century and grew to be an important voice with her written portrayals of Black American life in the rural south of the 1930's and 40's, and the stories, songs and folklore that were her heritage and inspiration....
Madea's Family Reunion
Character: Victoria
Southern matriarch Madea has a lot on her plate. Her nieces, Vanessa and Lisa, have relationship troubles - Vanessa moves into Madea's house with her 2 young children and Lisa is engaged to a controlling man that her mother set her up with. In addition, Madea has just been court-ordered to become the guardian of Nikki, a rebellious runaway teenager. Madea must keep the peace and her family together while simultaneously planning her clan's reunion....
John Henry
Character: Pollie Ann
The story follow legendary railroad worker John Henry during the late 19th century....
Mama, I Want to Sing!
Character: Lillian Winter
Preacher's daughter Amara Winter sings in the church choir before being discovered by a well-established musician. She soon rises to international fame as a pop singer....
The Josephine Baker Story
Character: Josephine Baker
Biography of the African-American who became a major performer in the Paris cabarets of the 1920s and 1930s. The film follows her life beginning as a struggling performer in 1917 St. Louis, her frustrations leading to her move to France, and follows to her death in 1975. Written by John Sacksteder...
Deep in My Heart
Character: Corrine Burrell
A black woma is reunited with her white birth mother after being given up for adoption....
Kings of the Evening
Character: Gracie
Homer Hobbs, home after two years in jail, discovers that life on the outside can be crueler than the back-breaking injustice of the chain gang......
King's Faith
Character: Vanessa
When eighteen-year-old Brendan King attempts to leave his turbulent gang life behind him, his past continues to threaten his new-found faith, family, and future...
The Retirement Plan
Character: Drisdale
When Ashley and her young daughter Sarah get caught up in a criminal enterprise that puts their lives at risk, she turns to the only person who can help: her estranged father Matt, currently living the life of a retired beach bum in the Cayman Islands. Their reunion is fleeting as they are soon tracked down on the island by crime boss Donnie and his lieutenant Bobo. As Ashley, Sarah, and Matt become entangled in an increasingly dangerous web, Ashley quickly learns her father had a secret past th...
State of Emergency
Character: Dehlia Johnson
Medical drama about a major hospital whose emergency room regularly faces an overload of patients. One of the doctors finds it necessary to adopt an unorthodox procedure to try to save a patient, and finds himself in trouble in consequence....
Lonely Boy
Character: Dr. Christine Nolan
While seeking answers to a past he cannot remember, a schizophrenic must find the strength to control his mental illness as he tries to build relationships with those he pushed away. Winner of multiple festival awards....
24 Hour Love
Character: Cynthia
The greatest feeling in the world is when you learn to love! Follow the stories of seven everyday people as they experience laughter, life and matters of the heart. The all-star cast (Malinda Williams, Tatyana Ali, Keith Robinson, Lynn Whitfield and Darius McCrary) will take you through the good, the bad and the ugly of the many faces of love. Fall head over heels for this fresh, honest look at relationships and see what a difference a day makes....
Somebody's Child
Character: Constance
A woman (Lynn Whitfield) dying of kidney disease learns that God works in mysterious ways after convincing her son (Michael Jai White) to help a repentant ex-con (Byron Minns) whose unexpected presence prompts a startling deathbed confession....
Dangerous Evidence
Character: Lori Jackson
The Lori Jackson Story - A civil rights campaigner, Lori Jackson, champions the the cause of a black marine convicted of rape, as she thinks he is innocent of the crime. Based on a real case....
The Last Letter
Character: Lorraine
Catharine Wright struggles with a debilitating sleep disorder. Her husband Michael struggles to cope when their new born son lay in the wake....
The Making of Jaws The Revenge
Character: Self
A behind the scenes look on Jaws The Revenge with interviews from the cast and crew....
Dead Aim
Character: Sheila Freeman
Ed Marinaro is Malcolm "Mace" Douglas, a street-tough detective who's out for justice-no matter what the cost. While investigating the mysterious suicidal heroin overdoses of four beautiful exotic dancers, Mace puts together the pieces of a deadly puzzle, infiltrating a violent ring of shadowy drug and weapons dealers, Mace methodically tracks a serial killer (Rick Washburn) with murderous ties to a ruthless foreign diplomat (Harry Goz). Mace won't stop until he gets some answers. The FBI and KG...
The Redemption of a Dog
Character: Francine
...
And Then There Was You
Character: Sophia Brent
Natalie and Joshua appear to be the picture-perfect couple, but looks can be deceiving. When Natalie discovers her husband has led a secret life, she is forced to deal with losing everything she loves. Newly divorced and soured on relationships, Natalie is picking up the pieces of her shattered world. In the process of healing, she meets a new man who challenges the boundaries of her trust and her ability to fall in love again....
Taking the Heat
Character: Carolyn Hunter
When Michael Norell witnesses a murder, he doesn't want to testify but he is forced to by the police. A cop is ordered to bring him to the court, but before they get there they have to deal with several attacks from killers....
The Dempsey Sisters
Character: Olivia Norman
Three siblings return to their musical roots, agreeing to let their brother manage their family band....
The Wedding
Character: Corinne Coles
Shelby Coles (Halle Berry) is engaged to marry talented white jazz musician Meade Howell, but the pair face opposition from both Meade's family, who object to an inter-racial marriage, and Shelby's parents, who want her to marry a professional. As Shelby is afflicted by pre-marital doubts, handsome Lute McNeil arrives on the scene, determined to make Shelby his at any cost....
Act Like You Love Me
Character: Harriett Lofton
Kelly Lofton is a young, successful dentist who has all the material things a woman could ask for. However, Kelly has struggled to find time for love in her busy schedule, so when her younger sister Susan gets engaged to a seemingly perfect man and organizes an extravagant engagement party, Kelly panics. She hires a gorgeous actor for the weekend to accompany her to the party. Her ruse quickly develops into something real and Kelly realizes the only thing missing in her life is love....
We Need a Little Christmas
Character: Irene
Julie is adjusting to being a single mother to a grieving child while facing her first Christmas without her husband when she develops an unexpected friendship with her older neighbor Irene....
The Planet of Junior Brown
Character: Mrs. Brown
Powerful story about love, struggle and passion of an over protective mother and her piano prodigy....
The Slugger's Wife
Character: Tina Alvarado
Darryl Palmer is a major league baseball player who meets and pursues an attractive singer. After some setbacks, the two are married and sent on an emotional journey that sees his career take off, while hers doesn't. She can't escape unhappiness when she gives up her dreams to support her husband. With a separation on the horizon, Darryl must choose between his big-league life and his one true love....
My Other Mother
Character: Mary Jo
When gruff and independent Candy meets her angry and stubborn birth mother, can the two open their hearts to each other?...
Albany Road
Character: Paula Henderson
On her way to the most important meeting of her career, severe weather forces a New York executive to share a rental car with her former nemesis, her ex-fiancé's mother, only to discover that the mother is hiding a major secret....
Prayer Never Fails
Character: Loral Brown
When a high school basketball coach is fired for praying with one of his players, he follows God's calling and hires an agnostic, gambling lawyer to file a lawsuit....
Battlefield America
Character: Ms. Parker
A young businessman hires an instructor to turn a group of misfit kids into a team on the underground dance competition circuit....
Sophie and the Moonhanger
Character: Sophie
A woman pits herself against her husband and his Ku Klux Klan member friends when she learns that they are planning an attack against her black maid and her husband....
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
Character: Woman in bath
The powerful tales of seven diverse African-American women are woven together in this 1982 performance of Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning landmark play. A breakthrough portrayal of black women's experiences in America, the story combines music, poetry and dance to celebrate their unique culture while painting a poignant portrait of their terrible struggles....
The Cheetah Girls 2
Character: Dorothea Garibaldi
Best friends Galleria, Chanel, Dorinda, and Aqua, A.K.A. the girl band "The Cheetahs," get the opportunity of a lifetime when they strut their way to Barcelona, Spain, to perform in an international music festival. Along the way, the "amigas Cheetahs" learn that, although their paths are not the same, they are lucky to have one another for the journey....
Espionage Tonight
Character: Sydney Greenstreet
In a reality TV show created by the U.S. government about spies, audiences go on fake undercover missions, but fact cannot be easily distinguished from fiction....
Nappily Ever After
Character: Paulette Jones
After an accident at the hair salon, Violet realizes she's not living life to the fullest. A soulful barber helps her put the pieces back together....
Solace
Character: Irene
Following the death of her father, a 17-year-old girl is sent to live with her estranged family and finds comfort in a questionable friendship with a self-destructive neighbor, leading both on a startling path to self discovery....
30 Days in Atlanta
Character: Clara
Akpos wins a 30-day holiday for two to Atlanta, Georgia. He takes his cousin (Richard), an IT specialist on the all- expense paid trip. Akpos flung his unique personality, showing-off his smartness and foolishness in an exciting mix of rhetoric andwitty humour....
Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI
Character: Johnnie Mae Gibson
A police officer is called by F.B.I. to infiltrate into gang of arms smugglers....
The Women
Character: Glenda Hill
The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary's man....
A Girl Thing
Character: Nia Morgan
A Girl Thing is a mini-series that revolves around a New York city street, a coffee house and a shrinks office. Dr. Beth Noonan is the therapist to one star per hour. Hour one deals with a woman not capable of having a relationship. Hour Two is about sisters who hate each other, trying to get along one last time. Hour Three is about adultery....
Lap Dance
Character: Momma Pearl
An aspiring actress makes a pact with her fiancé to take a job as an exotic dancer to care for her cancer stricken father. Once the pact the couple made is broken, their lives are changed forever....
Confessions
Character: Dr. Page
Confessions of a Call Girl is a revealing story of a women's struggle for balance as she battles a secret addiction while fighting to save her family and find herself....
Stepmom
Character: Dr. P. Sweikert
Jackie is a divorced mother of two. Isabel is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke, forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest, while they have the chance....
Stompin' at the Savoy
Character: Esther
As the Harlem Renaissance flourishes in jazzy New York City, Pauline, Esther and Alice struggle to survive. By day, they toil at dreary jobs, dreaming of stardom, riches and happiness. By night, they dance their troubles away at the famous Savoy Ballroom. But when World War II appears on the horizon, the girls find their fortunes unfolding too unevenly to reconcile, and they inevitably begin to drift apart....
Love Songs
Character: Jean Simpson
Louis Gossett, Jr, Robert Townsend and Andre Braugher come together to each direct a short story, all of which are interconnected through themes of love and family. Set in the same predominantly black neighbourhood in North Philadelphia, these threecompelling tales tell the stories of an up-and-coming heavyweight boxer, a vegetable vendor, and a man who must protect a family member from the abuse of another....
Intimate Portrait: Josephine Baker
Character: Herself
From world-renowned performer of the Jazz Age, to WWII spy, to civil rights activist – a look into the iconic life and legacy of Josephine Baker, narrated by Arsenio Hall, including rare archive footage, and interviews with Debbie Allen, Lynn Whitfield (who portrayed Baker in The Josephine Baker Story), and two of Baker’s sons....
Tales from the Hood 3
Character: Marie Benoît
Following the franchise's cult classic roots, this new anthology featuring Tony Todd and Lynn Whitfield will scare and thrill with its horrifying twists and social commentary....
Woman in Motion
Character: Self
Nichelle Nichols' daunting task to launch a national blitz for NASA, recruiting 8,000 of the nation's best and brightest, including the trailblazing astronauts who became the first African American, Asian and Latino men and women to fly in space....
Vacation Friends
Character: Suzanne
When a straight-laced couple that has fun with a rowdy couple on vacation in Mexico return to the States, they discover that the crazy couple they met in Mexico followed them back home and decide to play tricks on them....
PoliWood
Character: Self
An in-depth look at the Democratic and Republican national conventions held during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election year....