Donna Biscoe

Donna Biscoe (born September 30, 1955) is an American actress.

Donna Biscoe
Born	(1955-09-30) September 30, 1955 (age 69) Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S.
Alma mater	Clark Atlanta University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1987–present
Website	donnabiscoe.com

Early years

Biscoe was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, the daughter of Mildred Skillern, a retired Carver High School English teacher. Biscoe attended Carver, then graduated from Kendrick High School in Columbus in 1973 and later graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education.^[1] Biscoe later went to Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York for six months.

In the 1980s, a casting agent discovered Biscoe while she worked as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines.^[2]

Career

After returning to Atlanta, Biscoe began acting in plays, including playing Martin Luther King Jr.’s mother in A Boy King at the Atlanta Children’s Theater.^[1] In late 1980s, Biscoe also began appearing in an supporting roles in film and television, including four appearances in In the Heat of the Night, CBS miniseries Mama Flora's Family (1998), and well as films Love Crimes (1992) and Blue Sky (1994).

Biscoe worked mostly in theatre in 1980s and 1990s. Her stage credits including Doubt, To Kill A Mockingbird, Waiting To Be Invited, Holiday Heart, Homebody Kabul, Our Town and Fences.^[3] In 2000s, she began appearing in films playing mostly roles of mothers of grandmothers. Her film credits including Motives 2 and Three Can Play That Game (2007) starring Vivica A. Fox, Mississippi Damned (2009), The Sacrament (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), and Girls Trip (2017). She played Taraji P. Henson's character mother in the 2016 biographical drama film Hidden Figures, and Kevin Hart's mother in the 2018 comedy Night School.^[4]

On television, Biscoe guest-starred in Drop Dead Diva, Nashville and Being Mary Jane. She had a recurring roles in the two Oprah Winfrey Network series: drama Greenleaf as Clara Jackson, and prime time soap opera Ambitions as Robin Givens' character mother. In 2017, she began starring in the Bounce TV prime time soap opera Saints & Sinners playing villainous Lady Leona Byrd.^[5] The series ended in 2022 after six seasons. She later had the recurring roles in theAll the Queen's Men, All Rise and Reasonable Doubt. In 2024 she starred alongside Garcelle Beauvais, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine in the Lifetime television movie Terry McMillan Presents: Tempted By Love.^[6] She also appeared in the comedy-drama film The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat and played WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott in the war drama film, The Six Triple Eight.^[7]

Other activities

In 2008, Biscoe ran a Pilates studio in downtown Atlanta.^[2]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Kids Like These	Parent	Television film
1987	Dead Aim	Denise Long
1988	Case Closed	Allison	Television film
1992	Grass Roots	Lisa Conroy	Television film
1992	In the Line of Duty: Street War	Mikey's Mom	Television film
1992	The Secret Passion of Robert Clayton	Heather	Television film
1992	Love Crimes	Hannah
1993	Silent Victim	Beth Thompson	Television film
1993	I'll Fly Away: Then and Now	Adult Adlaine	Television film
1994	Blue Sky	Officer's Wife
1994	Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All	Maynelle	Television film
1998	Mama Flora's Family	Jessica	Television miniseries
1999	The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn	Nurse	Television film
1999	The Price of a Broken Heart	Phyllis	Television film
2000	Freedom Song	Mrs. Summer	Television film
2000	Trois	Ms. Paul
2002	Pandora's Box	Donna Paul
2002	Nowhere Road
2004	Trois 3: The Escort	Patricia Meyer
2004	Dead Birds	Black Woman
2004	Frankenfish	Gloria Crankton
2005	The Gospel	Reverend Jones
2005	A Message from Pops	Mom	Short film
2006	Broken Bridges	Dr. McVee
2007	Daddy's Little Girls	Social Worker
2007	Motives 2
2007	Three Can Play That Game	Mrs. Thompson
2008	One Missed Call	Coroner
2008	Conjurer	Dr. McKenzie
2009	Mississippi Damned	Gloria
2010	Blood Done Sign My Name	Elizabeth Chavis
2012	The Governor's Daughters	Ms. Anderson
2013	The Sacrament	Wendy
2014	Comeback Dad	Jeannette
2014	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1	D8 Old Woman
2014	The Productive Lie	Niecy
2015	Red All Over	Patricia Wright
2016	The Fundamentals of Caring	Caregiving Instructor
2016	Girl from Compton	Meme
2016	Confirmation	Eleanor Holmes Norton	Television film
2016	Hidden Figures	Mrs. Joylette Coleman
2017	Girls Trip	Delores
2017	A Question of Faith	Patricia Newman
2018	Along Came the Devil	Dr. Liles
2018	The Beach House	Flo	Television film
2018	Night School	Gladys Walker
2020	Black Girl Magic	Martha
2022	The In Between	Doris
2022	The Visitor	Margaret Delacroix
2024	Freedom Hair	G'Mom
2024	Terry McMillan Presents: Tempted by Love	Aunt Judy
2024	The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat	Minnie
2024	A Very Merry Beauty Salon	Georgia
2024	The Six Triple Eight	WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1990-1993	In the Heat of the Night	Laura Ulmer / Mrs. Johnson / Cora Tyler	4 episodes
2008	Army Wives	Allison Lyall	Episode: "Payback"
2010	One Tree Hill	Judge	Episode: "Weeks Go by Like Days"
2012	Drop Dead Diva	Dr. Colette Willis	Episode: "Winning Ugly"
2013	Necessary Roughness	Felicia Purnell	Episode: "The Fall Guy"
2013	Nashville	Elizabeth	Episode: "A Picture from Life's Other Side"
2014	Star-Crossed	Gloria's Mother	Episodes: "Dreamers Often Lie" and "Our Toil Shall Strive to Mend"
2014	Rectify	Mrs. Whitman	Episode: "Donald the Normal"
2016-2020	Greenleaf	Clara Jackson	Recurring role, 10 episodes
2017	Being Mary Jane		Episode: "Getting Served"
2017	Shots Fired	Mabel	Episode: "Hour Four: Truth"
2017–2022	Saints & Sinners	Lady Leona Byrd	Recurring (season 2), Series regular (season 3-6), 33 episodes
2019	Jack Ryan	Yvonne Bishop	Episode: "Tertia Optio"
2019	Ambitions	Irene Carlisle	Recurring role, 9 episodes
2020	Outer Banks	Beck	Episode: "Dead Calm"
2021-2022	All the Queen's Men	Patrice Ellis	Recurring role, 7 episodes
2022	Ozark	Lori	Episodes: "City on the Make" and "Sanctified"
2022	Sweet Magnolias	Winell Martin	Episodes: "The Rules of the Game" and "Fragile Things"
2022	Woke	Annie Malone	Episode: "Black Trauma V"
2022	All Rise	Mildred Brewer	Episodes: "It Ain't Over Till It's Over" and "Trouble Man"

References

1. James-Johnson, Alva (January 31, 2017). "'Hidden Figures' actress with Columbus roots wonders what other black stories are missing". Ledger-Enquirer. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
2. "Move takes her from flight attendant to stage diva". The Atlanta Constitution. Georgia, Atlanta. July 6, 2008. p. K 1. Retrieved March 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Film Biography". donna-biscoe.
4. Penrice, Ronda Racha (September 26, 2018). "AAFCA REVIEW: 'Night School' Starring Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish". EBONY.
5. "Saints & Sinners Season Four Finale Airs August 25th". August 25, 2019.
6. Cordero, Rosy (June 20, 2024). "Lifetime's 'Terry McMillan Presents: Tempted By Love' Rounds Out Cast & Sets Premiere Date".
7. Dunn, Jack (August 28, 2024). "'Six Triple Eight' Trailer: Kerry Washington Leads All-Black, All-Female Army Corps in Netflix Drama".

External links

• Donna Biscoe at IMDb