Alfre Woodard

Alfre Woodard ( AL-free WUUD-ərd; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Grammy Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century". She is a board member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Woodard began her acting career in theater, starring in So Nice, They Named It Twice, and breaking through by originating the role of “woman who lost her stuff” in the Off-Broadway play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1977). She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Cross Creek (1983). She earned a BAFTA Award for Best Actress nomination for her role in Clemency (2019). Woodard's notable films include Grand Canyon (1991), Passion Fish (1992), Heart and Souls (1993), Crooklyn (1994), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Primal Fear (1996), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Down in the Delta (1998), 12 Years a Slave (2013), and Juanita (2019). She voiced Sarabi in The Lion King (2019). Woodard gained prominence for her television role as Dr. Roxanne Turner in the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actr