She was born in Harlem, New York and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida as a child. She has a bachelor's degree in African-American Studies and a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University. Her rise to fame came with her roles in Boyz n the Hood and Malcolm X. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It, and was the first African-American to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
She's married to Courtney B. Vance. The two appeared as husband and wife on ER.
Selected Filmography:
- Boyz n the Hood (1991) as Reva Devereaux
- Critters 4 (1992) as Fran
- Malcolm X (1992) as Betty Shabazz
- What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) as Tina Turner
- Waiting to Exhale (1995) as Bernadine 'Bernie' Harris
- Strange Days (1996) as Lornette 'Mace' Mason
- Contact (1997) as Rachel Constantine
- How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) as Stella
- Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) as Groove (voice)
- The Score (2001) as Diane
- The Rosa Parks Story as Rosa Parks (2002)
- Akeelah and the Bee (2006) as Tanya Anderson
- ER (2008-2009) as Dr. Cate Banfield
- Notorious (2009) as Violetta Wallace
- Jumping the Broom (2011) as Claudine Watson
- Green Lantern (2011) (2011) as Amanda Waller note
- Olympus Has Fallen (2013) as Lynne Jacobs
- London Has Fallen (2016)
- Black Nativity (2013) as Aretha Cobbs
- American Horror Story (2013 — present) in various roles:
- American Horror Story: Coven (2013 — 2014) as Marie LaVeau
- American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014 — 2015) as Desiree Dupree
- American Horror Story: Hotel (2015 — 2016) as Ramona Royale
- American Horror Story: Roanoke (2016) as Monet Tumusiime
- Survivor (2015) as Maureen Crane
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (2015) as Six (voice and motion capture)
- BoJack Horseman (2015 - 2016) as Ana Spanakopita (voice)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2018 — present) as Queen Ramonda
- Black Panther (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- What If...? (2021) (voice)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) as CIA Director Erica Sloane
- Bumblebee (2018) as Shatter (voice)
- 9-1-1 (2018 — present) as Sgt. Athena Grant
- ''Soul (2020) as Dorothea Williams (voice)
- Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) as Anna May
- Horizon Forbidden West (2022) as Regalla (voice and motion capture)
- Wendell and Wild as Sister Helley (voice)
Related Tropes:
- Happily Married: To Courtney B. Vance since 1997 (although the two had been together for several years beforehand).
- Older Than They Look: She look like 20-25 years younger despite being currently in her sixties. In fact, in the 70th Emmy Awards, Twitter was filled with shocked posts when people learned that she was 60 years old at that time.
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Retroactive Recognition: She appeared as a stewardess in Kindergarten Cop. - Typecasting: Downplayed: her range allows her to play a variety of roles, but plenty of her projects have her as the mother/matriarch (The Jacksons: An American Dream, Notorious (2009), Black Panther, etc.)
