Alfre Woodard

Alfre Woodard’s work as an actor has earned her an Oscar® nomination for her performance in Cross Creek and an Independent Spirit Award and Golden Globe® nomination for her work in John Sayles’ Passion Fish. Her extensive film credits include Grand Canyon, Heart and Souls, Crooklyn, Star Trek: First Contact, Down in the Delta, Love & Basketball, Something New, American Violet, What’s Cooking, Beauty Shop, and The Family That Preys. For television, Woodard has starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The Piano Lesson and the Showtime film Holiday Heart, which earned her a Golden Globe.

A four-time Emmy® winner, Woodard has taken home the award for her work in such series as The Practice, Hill Street Blues, and L.A. Law, as well as the television movie Miss Evers’ Boys. Woodard also appeared as Betty Applewhite on the ABC drama Desperate Housewives. Most recently, Woodard garnered her 17th Emmy nomination in the role of Ruby Jean Reynolds, mother to Lafayette Reynolds, on HBO’s True Blood. Her other recent work includes the CBS medical drama Three Rivers, and on TNT’s Memphis Beat.