Alfre Woodard caught the “acting bug” after being persuaded to audition for a play by a nun/teacher at her high school. She went on to study acting at Boston University. Her first professional break came in the feature Remember My Name, opposite Geraldine Chaplin and Jeff Goldblum. Subsequent feature films include John Sayle’s Passion Fish, Morgan Freeman’s Bopha!, Bruce Bereford’s Rich in Love, Ron Underwood’s Heart and Souls, Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon, Robert Altman’s Health and Martin Ritt’s Cross Creek (she was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the latter film).
Alfre Woodard won the first of four Emmy Awards for a 1984 appearance on Hill Street Blues; she was also honored with Emmys for her work on L.A. Law and The Practice, as well as the telefilm Miss Evers’ Boys. She was nominated for an Emmy for her work in the Peabody Award-winning Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. She also appeared in last year’s Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, The Water Is Wide, and recently made several appearances on the hit series, Desperate Housewives.
