Lynn Whitfield
Scion of an achievement-oriented Baton Rouge clan with roots in southern black aristocracy, toothsome, energetic leading lady Lynn Whitfield first watched the likes of Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Bette Davis in "All About Eve" from the vantage of her grandmother's lap, attired in mink-trimmed frocks and seeing no reason she could not some day play those same types of roles. After gaining attention on the stage as one of the young women of color in Ntozake Shange's poetic panorama of the black female experience, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf," Whitfield began appearing in supporting roles in such films as "Doctor Detroit" (1982) and "Silverado" (1985) but did not achieve real success until starring in television films ("The George McKenna Story," "Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI," both CBS 1986) and miniseries (the acclaimed "The Women of Brewster Place" ABC 1989). Whitfield vaulted to international attention in the title role of "The Josephine Baker Story" (1991), the HBO biopic requiring her to age from 18 to 68 to portray the Follies Bergere star turned Resistance and civil rights fighter. In a highly-publicized search that rivaled that of the hunt for Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind," she beat out more than 500 women considered world-wide for the role and won an Emmy, achieving "the greatest sense of accomplishment and realization of my vision. It absolutely called upon everything I thought I could do at that point." Her triumph as Baker, however, proved both a blessing and a curse as she became so closely identified with the Jazz Age legend that other opportunities were slow to come along. Whitfield had worked as a regular in two ABC series ("Heartbreak" and "Equal Justice") prior to playing Baker, and the dearth of good offers encouraged her to return to the small screen opposite Bill Cosby in "The Cosby Mysteries" (NBC, 1994-95). Gradually, the parts started coming her way again, and though critical response to such vehicles as "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate" and "Gone Fishin'" (both 1996) was tepid, these features increased her exposure. Whitfield roared back into the winner's column with "Eve's Bayou" (1997), her part as head of a prosperous, socially prominent black family in Louisiana drawing heavily on her blue-blooded Baton Rouge upbringing. She returned to a similar milieu as snobby Martha's Vineyard matron Corinne Coles in the ABC miniseries "The Wedding" (1998), executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, who had also executive produced the earlier "The Women of Brewster Place." Certainly, these last two roles, along with that of Josephine Baker, are the kinds of parts Whitfield envisioned for herself as that little Louisiana princess so many years ago.
Photos
Lynn Whitfield
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Albany Road | Paula Henderson (Character) | - | 2024 |
60% |
|
The Retirement Plan | Drisdale (Character) | $1.4M | 2023 |
No Score Yet |
|
We Need a Little Christmas | Irene (Character) | - | 2022 |
58% |
|
Vacation Friends | Unknown (Character) | - | 2021 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tales From the Hood 3 | Marie Benoit (Character) | - | 2020 |
71% |
|
Nappily Ever After | Paulette Jones (Character) | - | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Espionage Tonight | Sydney Greenstreet (Character) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
Solace | Irene (Character) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
Prayer Never Fails | Loral Hess (Character) | - | 2016 |
No Score Yet |
|
Curveball | Dr. Layne (Character) | - | 2015 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 30 Days in Atlanta | Unknown (Character) | - | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fright Night Files | Madame Mabry (Character) | - | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | My Other Mother | Mary Jo (Character) | - | 2014 |
No Score Yet |
|
The North Star | Miss Grace (Character) | - | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Dempsey Sisters | Olivia Norman (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
Lonely Boy | Dr. Christine Nolan (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
And Then There Was You | Sophia Brent (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
Act Like You Love Me | Harriett (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 24 Hour Love | Cynthia (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
King's Faith | Vanessa (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Last Letter | Lorraine (Character) | - | 2012 |
No Score Yet |
|
Somebody's Child | Constance Rivers (Character) | - | 2012 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Redemption of a Dog |
Francine (Character), Producer |
- | 2012 |
8% |
|
Battlefield America | Ms. Parker (Character) | - | 2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Trace | Vivian (Character) | - | 2012 |
No Score Yet |
|
Things Fall Apart | Bee (Character) | - | 2011 |
No Score Yet |
|
Mama, I Want to Sing | Lillian Winter (Character) | - | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World | Unknown (Character) | - | 2009 |
13% |
|
The Women | Glenda Hill (Character) | $26.9M | 2008 |
73% |
|
Kings of the Evening | Grace Marigold (Character) | $98.7K | 2007 |
No Score Yet |
|
Confessions of a Call Girl | Dr. Page (Character) | - | 2006 |
26% |
|
Madea's Family Reunion | Victoria (Character) | $63.2M | 2006 |
No Score Yet |
|
Redemption | Barbara Becnel (Character) | - | 2004 |
75% |
|
The Cheetah Girls | Dorothea (Character) | - | 2003 |
30% |
|
Head of State | Debra Lassiter (Character) | $37.8M | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Girl Thing | Nia Morgan (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Elizabeti's Doll | Narrator | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Time for Dancing | Linda Derricks (Character) | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story | Lori Jackson (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Love Songs | Jean Simpson (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Color of Courage | Minnie McGhee (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Deep in My Heart | Corrine Burrell (Character) | - | 1999 |
44% |
|
Stepmom | Dr. P. Sweikert (Character) | $91.0M | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Planet of Junior Brown | Mrs. Brown (Character) | - | 1997 |
84% |
|
Eve's Bayou | Roz Batiste (Character) | $14.8M | 1997 |
4% |
|
Gone Fishin' | Angie (Character) | $19.7M | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sophie and the Moonhanger | Sophie (Character) | - | 1996 |
15% |
|
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate | Brandi Web (Character) | $34.8M | 1996 |
No Score Yet |
|
State of Emergency | Dehlia Johnson (Character) | - | 1994 |
12% |
|
In the Army Now | Sgt. Ladd (Character) | $28.9M | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Cosby Mysteries | Barbara Lorenz (Character) | - | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story | Bobbie Mallory (Character) | - | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Taking the Heat | Carolyn Hunter (Character) | - | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Stompin' at the Savoy | Esther (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story | Natala (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Josephine Baker Story | Josephine Baker (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mace | Sheila Freeman (Character) | - | 1987 |
2% |
|
Jaws the Revenge | Louisa (Character) | $18.8M | 1987 |
No Score Yet |
|
The George McKenna Story | Bobbie Maxwell (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Johnnie Gibson Story | Johnnie Mae Gibson (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI | Johnnie Mae Gibson (Character) | - | 1986 |
78% |
|
Silverado | Rae Johnson (Character) | - | 1985 |
33% |
|
Doctor Detroit | Thelma Cleland (Character) | - | 1983 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
88% | 68% | St. Denis Medical | Barb (Guest Star) | 2024 |
62% | 66% | Fantasy Island | Judy (Guest Star) | 2023 |
No Score Yet | 81% | Greenleaf | Lady Mae Greenleaf (Character) | 2016-2020 |
No Score Yet | 75% | The Resident | Josephine Okeke (Guest Star) | 2019 |
No Score Yet | 62% | Mistresses | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2015-2016 |
No Score Yet | 12% | The View | Guest | 2016 |
75% | 86% | Chasing Life | Karen Callahan (Guest Star) | 2015 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fatal Attraction |
Host, Narrator |
2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wendy Williams Show | Guest | 2013 |
80% | 78% | FlashForward | Anastasia Markham (Guest Star) | 2009 |
52% | 50% | Shark | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2006 |
No Score Yet | 75% | Without a Trace | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003-2004 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Strong Medicine | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2004 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Boston Public | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wedding | Corinne Coles (Character) | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Touched by an Angel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Cosby Mysteries | Unknown (Character) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Matlock | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | HeartBeat | Dr. Cory Banks (Character) | 1988-1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fall Guy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1985 |
71% | 89% | Miami Vice | Odette Ribaud (Guest Star) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Trauma Center | Teri Baylor (Guest Star) | 1983 |
97% | 85% | Hill Street Blues | Jill Thomas (Guest Star) | 1981 |