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Lynn Whitfield

Born 1953-02-15
📍 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

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.

Filmography 101

Strung
2026
Eyes of Wakanda
as Older Noni (voice)
2025
Albany Road
as Paula Henderson
2024
St. Denis Medical
as Barb
2024
The Retirement Plan
as Drisdale
2023
We Need a Little Christmas
as Irene
2022
Sherri
as Self - Guest
2022
Vacation Friends
as Suzanne
2021
Woman in Motion
as Self
2021
Tales from the Hood 3
as Marie Benoît
2020
Tamron Hall
as Self - Guest
2019
Solace
as Irene
2018
Nappily Ever After
as Paulette Jones
2018
The Resident
as Josephine Okeke
2018
The Chi
as Alicia
2018
Espionage Tonight
as Sydney Greenstreet
2017
Greenleaf
as Lady Mae Greenleaf
2016
Prayer Never Fails
as Loral Brown
2016
Lap Dance
as Momma Pearl
2014
30 Days in Atlanta
as Clara
2014
How to Get Away with Murder
as Mary Walker
2014
My Other Mother
as Mary Jo
2014
Chasing Life
as Karen Callahan
2014
The Ugly Duckling
as Narrator (voice)
2014
The Last Letter
as Lorraine
2013
The Dempsey Sisters
as Olivia Norman
2013
And Then There Was You
as Sophia Brent
2013
Act Like You Love Me
as Harriett Lofton
2013
Fatal Attraction
as Narrator (voice)
2013
King's Faith
as Vanessa
2013
24 Hour Love
as Cynthia
2013
Lonely Boy
as Dr. Christine Nolan
2013
The Redemption of a Dog
as Francine
2012
Somebody's Child
as Constance
2012
Battlefield America
as Ms. Parker
2012
All Things Fall Apart
as Bee
2011
Mama, I Want to Sing!
as Lillian Winter
2011
FlashForward
as Anastasia Markham
2009
The Rebound
as Laura Reilly
2009
PoliWood
as Self
2009
The Women
as Glenda Hill
2008
Kings of the Evening
as Gracie
2008
Shark
as Anita Astin
2006
The Cheetah Girls 2
as Dorothea Garibaldi
2006
Confessions
as Dr. Page
2006
Madea's Family Reunion
as Victoria
2006
The Tyra Banks Show
2005
Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
as Barbara Becnel
2004
The Cheetah Girls
as Dorothea Garibaldi
2003
Head of State
as Debra Lassiter
2003
Without a Trace
as Paula Van Doren
2002
A Time for Dancing
as Linda Derricks, the Dance Teacher
2002
A Girl Thing
as Nia Morgan
2001
Boston Public
as Louanna Harper
2000
Strong Medicine
as Dr. Marshall
2000
Intimate Portrait: Josephine Baker
as Herself
1999
Love Songs
as Jean Simpson
1999
Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story
as Lori Jackson
1999
Deep in My Heart
as Corrine Burrell
1999
The Color of Courage
as Minnie McGhee
1999
Stepmom
as Dr. P. Sweikert
1998
The Wedding
as Corinne Coles
1998
Eve's Bayou
as Roz Batiste
1997
The Planet of Junior Brown
as Mrs. Brown
1997
Gone Fishin'
as Angie
1997
Promised Land
as Dr. Serena Hall
1996
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
as Brandi
1996
The Cosby Mysteries
1994
Touched by an Angel
as Dr. Serena Hall
1994
In the Army Now
as Sgt. Ladd
1994
Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story
as Bobbie Mallory
1994
State of Emergency
as Dehlia Johnson
1994
Taking the Heat
as Carolyn Hunter
1993
Martin
as Ellen
1992
Stompin' at the Savoy
as Esther
1992
The Josephine Baker Story
as Josephine Baker
1991
Zora is My Name!
1990
Snoops
as Denise Kendall
1989
The Women of Brewster Place
as Ciel
1989
The Women of Brewster Place
as Ciel
1989
The George McKenna Story
as Bobbie Maxwell
1988
HeartBeat
as Dr. Cory Banks
1988
Jaws: The Revenge
as Louisa
1987
The Making of Jaws The Revenge
as Self
1987
Dead Aim
as Sheila Freeman
1987
John Henry
as Pollie Ann
1986
Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI
as Johnnie Mae Gibson
1986
Matlock
as Angela Page
1986
Tall Tales & Legends
as Pollie Ann
1985
Silverado
as Rae
1985
The Slugger's Wife
as Tina Alvarado
1985
Miami Vice
as Odette Ribaud
1984
Trauma Center
1983
Doctor Detroit
as Thelma Cleland
1983
St. Elsewhere
as Annie Callan
1982
Matt Houston
as Val
1982
Cagney & Lacey
1982
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
as Woman in bath
1982
Hill Street Blues
1981
Hill Street Blues
as Jill Thomas
1981
Golden Globe Awards
as Self - Nominee
1944