|
Runaway Island (2015)
Character: Naomi Holloway
A group of troubled strangers looking to escape their woes end up sharing a transformational experience on an island steeped in African-American heritage and culture.
|
|
|
The Line (2020)
Character: Sharon
A new documentary play crafted from firsthand interviews with New York City medical first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Line cuts through the media and political noise to reveal the lived experiences of frontline medical workers in New York and their battle to save lives in a system built to serve the bottom line.
|
|
|
Unladylike2020 (2020)
Character: (voice)
Upending expectations and challenging the definition of womanhood, these “first women” found themselves at the forefront of progressive movements, organizing campaigns and leading paths to cultural change. Female historians share the names and stories of five of these pioneers: Martha Hughes Cannon, Jovita Idár, Jeannette Rankin, Mary Church Terrell and Zitkála-Šá.
|
|
|
Bleeding Hearts (1995)
Character: Enid Sheperd
An ill-fated, tender romance between an adult white male tutor and his 17-year-old African-American female student.
|
|
|
America's Dream (1996)
Character: Philomena (segment "The Reunion")
Made especially for the HBO cable network, this well-wrought feature is comprised of three short stories by three noted black American authors, each of which is directed by a respected black director.
|
|
|
A Time to Heal (1994)
Character: N/A
A paralyzed mother recovers from a stroke during childbirth with care from her husband.
|
|
|
The Face of Rage (1983)
Character: Stendah
Filmed in quasi-documentary fashion, the made-for-TV The Face of Rage is set in a rehabilitation facility. Here a group of rapists are required to confront their victims face-to-face. The film concentrates on the bitter verbal sparring session between assaulter Richard (Graham Bechel) and assaultee Rebecca (Dianne Weist). Director Donald Wrye co-wrote the screenplay for Face of Rage with Hal Sitowicz, drawing much of the dialogue from real-life transcripts. The film was first aired as an "ABC Theatre" presentation on March 20, 1983, preceded with an all too appropriate "parental guidance" proviso.
|
|
|
Common Ground (1990)
Character: Alva Debnam
Fact based story about the racial tensions that occurred in Boston in the 1970's because of court ordered busing to end desegregation. The story focuses on an African-American mother determined to get her children a quality education and a white lawyer trying to deal with inner city problems.
|
|
|
The Sky is Falling (2001)
Character: Janie
A young woman, struggling to become a novelist, has her life go into a tailspin. Her first novel is rejected, her non-committal boy friend decides to take a powder, her best friend moves to Mexico for an acting job, and her mother announces that her long presumed dead father is actually a hippie photographer who has come to town to meet her. Sinking into a depression at being a total failure at 28, she starts fantasizing about suicide. In her depths of despair she meets various eccentric characters including a chain-smoking Santa Claus and an obnoxious literary agent. But her belief in herself is only restored when she meets a patient in a hospital where she does volunteer work.
|
|
|
Sad Inheritance (1993)
Character: Florence Crawford
After filling her life with addictions, Christina is left with a dead-end job, a deadbeat boyfriend and a bad rapport with her mother. The last thing she needs is a baby, a sentiment the authorities agree with when the infant is born with a drug dependency. Now, Christina's future is in the hands of a dedicated social worker (Lorraine Toussaint), whose own instincts as a mother have her fighting for the child's rights.
|
|
|
|
A Case of Deadly Force (1986)
Character: Pat Bowden
Fact-based story about a 1975 cover-up of a shooting by two white members of the Boston Tactical Unit. While on stakeout on a suspected getaway car used in a armed robbery, the two gunned down a black man who entered the car. The two claimed the man had a gun and they shot in self-defense. Police investigation decided it was a rightful shooting. The man's widow knew her husband would not be carrying a weapon and became determined to prove her husband's innocence. She hired a former cop who had become a lawyer to prove her case. Working with his four sons, the lawyer team takes on the police force in what eventually proved to be a landmark legal decision. Written by John Sacksteder
|
|
|
The Making of a Hollywood Madam (1996)
Character: Judge Consuelo Marshall
The real-life California family doctor -- facing a jail sentence for money laundering and tax evasion -- recalls the events leading to the arrest of his notorious daughter, Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.
|
|
|
Class of '61 (1993)
Character: Sarah
Three West Point 1861 generation cadets and friends go on opposite sides after the breakout of The Civil War, with tragic consequences. A subplot involves Lucius, a Shelby Peyton's slave, who kills a slave trader and goes on the run.
|
|
|
It Was Him or Us (1995)
Character: Lieutenant Sondra Washington
When her daughter's lover begins exhibiting signs of becoming a dangerous abuser, a mother attempts to intervene.
|
|
|
Sprinter (2019)
Character: Donna
Sprinter tells the story of Akeem Sharp who is set to be Jamaica's next big track-and-field sensation. Akeem hopes to rise in the track and field world will take him to the U.S. to reunite him with his mother who has supported the family while living as an illegal resident for over a decade. But Akeem's rising star is weighed down by turmoil at home: a volatile father, and an unruly older brother who insinuates himself into Akeem's career as a means of escaping - or perhaps enhancing - his scam artist hustle. Not only does Akeem have to prove to himself and everyone that he can succeed, but also overcome the struggles that may ultimately bring him down.
|
|
|
Sophie and the Rising Sun (2016)
Character: Salome Whitmore
In a small Southern town in the autumn of 1941, Sophie’s lonely life is transformed when an Asian man arrives under mysterious circumstances. Their love affair becomes the lightning rod for long-buried conflicts that erupt in bigotry and violence with the outbreak of World War ll.
|
|
|
If These Walls Could Talk (1996)
Character: Shameeka Webb
A powerful, intimate portrait of three women living in the same house during different eras who all face unplanned pregnancies. The vignettes follow a recently widowed nurse struggling to take control of her life in the early 50s, a mother of four balancing raising a family and maintaining a career in the 70s, and a student making a difficult decision with the help of one woman that will change the course of both their lives in the 90s.
|
|
|
Love Beats Rhymes (2017)
Character: Nichelle
A young woman dreams of making it big in the world of hip hop, but her parents demand that she finish her university degree. She dutifully agrees to complete her education, but her spoken word proves to have a powerful impact in the classroom.
|
|
|
Fast Color (2019)
Character: Bo
A woman is forced to go on the run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. Years after having abandoned her family, the only place she has left to hide is home.
|
|
|
Ask Me Anything (2014)
Character: Dr. Sherman
Beautiful, wild, funny, and lost, Katie Kampenfelt takes a year off before college to find herself, all the while chronicling her adventures in an anonymous blog into which she pours her innermost secrets. Eventually, Katie's fearless narrative begins to crack, and dark pieces of her past emerge.
|
|
|
Mother's Boys (1993)
Character: Robert’s Associate
Sexy but unstable wife and mother Jude walked out on her family three years ago. Now, just as suddenly, she is back. But her husband, Robert, has fallen in love with Callie, an assistant principal at his sons' school. He asks Jude for a divorce. She responds by trying to turn her three boys against Callie, then by slashing herself and blaming her rival and finally by drawing her 12-year-old, Kes, into a murderous plot.
|
|
|
The Soloist (2009)
Character: Flo Ayers
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.
|
|
|
Breaking In (1989)
Character: Delphine the Hooker
Professional thief Ernie takes Mike on as an apprentice, but while Mike clearly has "larceny in his heart", it will take him a long time to get as good as Ernie.
|
|
|
Concrete Cowboy (2020)
Character: Nessi
Sent to live with his estranged father for the summer, a rebellious teen finds kinship in a tight-knit Philadelphia community of Black cowboys.
|
|
|
Blackout Effect (1998)
Character: Kim Garfield
There has been a mid-air collision involving a passenger jet and a cargo flight, killing everyone aboard the two planes. The NTSB investigator in charge, whose girlfriend died in the crash, is puzzled. On one side, the air traffic controller claims he lost radar contact with the cargo plane shortly before impact, when his screen "blacked out." On the other side, everyone else, including the controller's bosses and the media, put the blame on human error. The truth is soon to be uncovered, as the aging air traffic control facilities are on the verge of failing right in the middle of the busy Thanksgiving season.
|
|
|
Selma (2014)
Character: Amelia Boynton
"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ultimately led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act.
|
|
|
Anne Frank Meets God (2018)
Character: God (voice)
Based on a poem by a WWII vet, Anne Frank Meets God is a haunting film set in one of the darkest moments in human history. It explores the unanswered questions that arise in the face of tragedy and in the deaths of those who are far, far too young. It is a meditation on life, on death, and on purpose. The film imagines a final reckoning between Anne Frank (Aubrey Peeples) and God (Lorraine Toussaint). It is a reminder of the effect that just one person, even a young girl hidden away, can have on the world
|
|
|
Black Dog (1998)
Character: Avery
An ex-con takes a job driving a truck cross country. What he doesn't know is that the truck is filled with illegal weapons and now he must fight to survive and save his family.
|
|
|
Hamlet (2024)
Character: Gertrude
From The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, experience this Shakespearean classic directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon featuring Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (“Slave Play”) in the title role and Solea Pfeiffer as Ophelia (“Hadestown”).
|
|
|
Hudson Hawk (1991)
Character: Almond Joy
Eddie Hawkins, called Hudson Hawk has just been released from ten years of prison and is planning to spend the rest of his life honestly. But then the crazy Mayflower couple blackmail him to steal some of the works of Leonardo da Vinci. If he refuses, they threaten to kill his friend Tommy.
|
|
|
Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation (2024)
Character: Rashida Remington (voice)
When thrill-seeker Cricket tricks his family into taking a "road trip" in space, chaos in the cosmos quickly ensues. Despite growing frustrations between Cricket and his dad, Bill, the two must learn to appreciate each other's unique perspectives in order to prevent Big City from being destroyed by an interstellar disaster.
|
|
|
Trial: The Price of Passion (1992)
Character: Nancy Goodpaster
Down-on-his-luck lawyer Warren Blackburn defends wealthy Texan Johnnie Faye Boudreau, who is accused of murdering her husband.
|
|
|
The Cherokee Kid (1996)
Character: Mama Turner
Isaih Turner didn’t want to be a hero-all he wanted was revenge. Orphaned when both his parents were cruelly murdered by the wealthy and powerful Cyrus Bloomington, the young Isaiah grew up with one air in mind: to find the man who killed his folks and take him down.
|
|
|
Dangerous Minds (1995)
Character: Irene Roberts
Former Marine Louanne Johnson lands a gig teaching in a pilot program for bright but underachieving teens at a notorious inner-city high school. After having a terrible first day, she decides she must throw decorum to the wind. When Johnson returns to the classroom, she does so armed with a no-nonsense attitude informed by her military training and a fearless determination to better the lives of her students -- no matter what the cost.
|
|
|
Middle of Nowhere (2012)
Character: Ruth
When her husband is sentenced to eight years in prison, Ruby drops out of medical school in order to focus on her husband's well-being while he's incarcerated - leading her on a journey of self-discovery in the process.
|
|
|
Girls Trip (2017)
Character: Lorraine Toussaint
Four girlfriends take a trip to New Orleans for an annual festival and, along the way, rediscover their wild sides and strengthen the bonds of sisterhood.
|
|
|
The Glorias (2020)
Character: Flo Kennedy
An equal rights crusader, journalist and activist: Gloria Steinem embodies these and more. From her role in the revolutionary women's rights movement to her travels throughout the U.S. and around the world, Steinem has made an everlasting mark on modern history. A nontraditional chronicle of a trailblazing life.
|
|
|
Jaded (1998)
Character: Carol Broker
When an innocent young girl finds herself befriended by two sexy, uninhibited girls at a small-town bar, she discovers that they have more planned than just a party-and she's central to the action.
|
|
|
Nightjohn (1996)
Character: Dealey
John is a man of many talents, including one forbidden skill: he can read. When he teaches a young slave girl named Sarny to read and write, she learns an unforgettable lesson about the power of words and the true meaning of freedom.
|
|
|
Nimona (2023)
Character: Queen Valerin (voice)
A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
|
|
|
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Character: Lou Lou
Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, Halloween night, 1968. After playing a joke on a school bully, Stella and her friends decide to sneak into a supposedly haunted house that once belonged to the powerful Bellows family, unleashing dark forces that they will be unable to control.
|
|
|
The Night Before (2015)
Character: Mrs. Roberts
In New York City for their annual tradition of Christmas Eve debauchery, three lifelong best friends set out to find the Holy Grail of Christmas parties since their yearly reunion might be coming to an end.
|
|
|
Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005)
Character: Pearl Stone
A drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford's search for happiness leads her through several different marriages, challenging the morals of her small town. Based on the novel by Zora Neale Hurston.
|
|
|
Point of No Return (1993)
Character: Beth
Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as a phantom killer and subdued into obedience.
|
|
