LisaGay Hamilton

LisaGay Hamilton (born 1964)^[1][2] is an American actress who has portrayed roles in films, television, and on stage. She is best known for her role as secretary/lawyer Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997–2003). She also portrayed Melissa Thoreau on the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age (2009–2011), Celia Jones on the Netflix series House of Cards (2016), Suzanne Simms on the Hulu series Chance (2016), and Kayla Price on the Hulu series The First (2018).

LisaGay Hamilton
Hamilton with her Peabody Award, 2005
Born	1964 (age 59–60)[1][2] Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	Carnegie Mellon University New York University (BFA) Juilliard School (GrDip)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Robin D. G. Kelley ​ (m. 2009)​
Website	www.lisagayhamilton.com

Hamilton's film credits include roles in 12 Monkeys (1995), Jackie Brown (1997), Beloved (1998), True Crime (1999), The Sum of All Fears (2002), The Soloist (2009), Beastly (2011), Beautiful Boy (2018), and Vice (2018). Her theater credits include Measure for Measure (Isabella), Henry IV Parts I & II (Lady Hotspur), Athol Fugard's, Valley Song and The Ohio State Murders. Hamilton was also an original cast member in the Broadway productions of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson and Gem of the Ocean. In 2005 she won a Peabody Award for creating and directing the 2003 documentary film Beah: A Black Woman Speaks.

Early life

Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California but spent most of her childhood in Stony Brook, New York on the north shore of Long Island. Her father, Ira Winslow Hamilton, Jr., hailed from Bessemer, Alabama, and her mother, the former Eleanor Albertine "Tina" Blackwell, was from Meridian, Mississippi. Both parents graduated from historically black colleges—Tina attended Talladega while Ira went to Morehouse—and they both became successful professionals. Ira worked for a while as an engineer and then went into business as a general contractor. Tina eventually earned a master's degree in social work and worked for the Girl Scouts for many years.^[3]

Hamilton fell in love with theater at an early age. During the 1970s, she saw several off-Broadway productions by the Negro Ensemble Company, including A Soldier's Story and The First Breeze of Summer.^[4] She enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University to study theater, but after a year was accepted into New York University's Tisch Drama School where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater in 1985. She then pursued graduate studies at The Juilliard School where she earned a M.A. in drama in 1989.^[5]

Career

Early on, Hamilton set her sights on classical theater. In one of her first notable roles, she played opposite Kevin Kline in Measure for Measure in the New York Shakespeare Festival. Hamilton's performances in Much Ado About Nothing, Tartuffe, Reckless, Family of Mann, and Two Gentlemen of Verona, earned her a reputation as a serious dramatic actor.^[6] In 1995–96, her portrayal of a young, aspiring South African singer in Athol Fugard's Valley Song garnered an Obie Award, the Clarence Derwent Award, the Ovation nomination for best actress, and a Drama Desk nomination. More recently, Hamilton earned critical acclaim,^[7] her second Obie, and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for her role as Suzanne Alexander in Adrienne Kennedy's The Ohio State Murders.^[8]

Hamilton appeared in over two dozen films, including The Truth About Charlie and Beloved for director Jonathan Demme, Clint Eastwood's True Crime, the independent films; Palookaville, Drunks, Showtime's A House Divided, and as Ophelia in director Campbell Scott's film version of Hamlet. She has worked on several projects with director Rodrigo García, notably his films Ten Tiny Love Stories, Nine Lives, and Mother and Child. Honeydripper directed by John Sayles and The Soloist, directed by Joe Wright.^[8]

Hamilton won a Peabody Award in 2005 for creating and directing the 2003 documentary film Beah: A Black Woman Speaks. The film tells the story of pioneering black actress Beah Richards, who had broken ground for African-American actresses. The two women had met on the set of Beloved (1998). Over the next two years, Hamilton made a record of more than 70 hours of their conversations. Hamilton's film explored Richards' political activism as well as her poetry. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Film Festival. After Richards died in 2000, Hamilton collaborated with illustrator R. Gregory Christie to turn one of her poems into a children's book. Keep Climbing Girls was published by Simon and Schuster in 2006.

Hamilton played the role of Melissa in Men of a Certain Age, an hour-long comedy-drama television series starring Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula that ran from 2009 to 2011.

In the fall of 2010, Hamilton took a faculty position at the School of Theater for the California Institute of the Arts, where she teaches in the Acting Program.^[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Krush Groove	Aisha
1990	Reversal of Fortune	Mary
1993	Naked in New York	Marty
1995	Drunks	Brenda
	Palookaville	Betty
	Clarissa	Porter Russell	TV movie
	12 Monkeys	Teddy
1997	Nick and Jane	Vickie
	Lifebreath	Dr. Quinlan
	Jackie Brown	Sheronda
1998	The Defenders: Choice of Evils	Jeanne Baptiste	TV movie
	Halloween H20: 20 Years Later	Shirley 'Shirl' Jones (voice)
	Beloved	Younger Sethe
1999	True Crime	Bonnie Beechum
	Swing Vote	Virginia Mapes	TV movie
2000	A House Divided	Julia	TV movie
	Hamlet	Ophelia	TV movie
2002	The Sum of All Fears	Capt. Lorna Shiro
	Ten Tiny Love Stories	Three
	The Truth About Charlie	Lola Jansco
2005	Nine Lives	Holly
2007	Honeydripper	Delilah
2008	Deception	Det. J Russo
2009	The Soloist	Jennifer Ayers
	Mother and Child	Leticia
2011	Take Shelter	Kendra
	Beastly	Zola Davies
2012	The Hypnotist	The Hypnotist	Short
2013	Lovelace	Marsha
	Go for Sisters	Bernice
	Life of a King	Sheila King
	Redemption Trail	Tess
2014	Line of Sight	Ruby Jensen	TV movie
2016	Indiscretion	Karen Wyatt
	The Wilding	Emily Bergom	TV movie
2018	Beautiful Boy	Rose
	Vice	Condoleezza Rice
2019	Ad Astra	Adjutant General Amelia Vogel
	The Last Full Measure	Celia O'Neal
	Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas	Deb	TV movie
2022	Another Country	Narrator	Short
2023	The Boogeyman	Dr. Weller

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Homicide: Life on the Street	Latoya Kennedy	Episode: "A Dog and a Pony Show"
1994	All My Children	Celia Wilson	Regular Cast
	New York Undercover	Suki	Episode: "To Protect and Serve"
1995	Law & Order	Denise Johnson	Episode: "Purple Heart"
1996	One Life to Live	Dr. Laura Reed	Regular Cast
1997-03	The Practice	Rebecca Washington	Main Cast: Season 1-7
1998	Ally McBeal	Rebecca Washington	Episode: "The Inmates"
2002	Intimate Portrait	Herself	Episode: "LisaGay Hamilton"
	Hollywood Squares	Herself	Recurring Guest
	Sex and the City	Kendall	Episode: "Critical Condition"
2004	The L Word	Art Show Attendee	Episode: "Losing It"
2005	Independent Lens	Herself/Narrator	Episode: "Red Hook Justice"
	ER	Nadine Hopkins	Episode: "All About Christmas Eve"
2006	Without a Trace	Sherise Gibbs	Episode: "The Calm Before"
2006-13	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Teresa Randall	Guest Cast: Season 7-8 & 14
2007	Numb3rs	Sari Kinshasa	Episode: "Money for Nothing"
2009-11	Men of a Certain Age	Melissa Thoreau	Main Cast
2012	Southland	Melanie	Episode: "Identity"
2013	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Connie Ryan	Episode: "Readiness Is All" & "Perfect Storm"
2014	Grimm	Mrs. Pittman	Episode: "The Last Fight"
	Scandal	Ambassador	Episode: "Where the Sun Don't Shine"
2016	House of Cards	Celia Jones	Recurring Cast: Season 4
	Chance	Suzanne Silver	Main Cast: Season 1
	Code Black	Dr. Kim Carrie	Episode: "Exodus"
2018	Elementary	Lt. Colonel Robin Deakins	Episode: "Give Me the Finger"
	The First	Kayla Price	Main Cast
2018-19	Sorry for Your Loss	Bobby Greer	Recurring Cast
2019	The Blacklist	Dr. Grey	Episode: "The Ethicist (No. 91)"
2021	This Is Us	Aunt Mae	Episode: "Birth Mother"
	The Rookie	Henry's Doctor	Episode: "Brave Heart"
2022	The Dropout	Judith Baker	Recurring Cast
	The Lincoln Lawyer	Judge Mary Holder	Recurring Cast: Season 1
2022-23	Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty	Christine Johnson	Recurring Cast
2023	Will Trent	Evelyn Mitchell	Recurring Cast: Season 1
	Class of '09	Tayo's Mom	Recurring Cast
2024	Genius	Alberta Williams King	Recurring Cast: Season 4
	Accused	Lenore Skilling	Episode: "Marcus' Story"
TBA	The Gilded Age	Frances Ellen Watkins Harper	Season 3

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Theatre
1990	The Piano Lesson	Grace	Walter Kerr Theatre
2004	Gem of the Ocean	Black Mary
2019	To Kill a Mockingbird	Calpurnia	Shubert Theatre
2023	Stew	Mama	Pasadena Playhouse[10]

Awards and nominations

Association	Year	Category	Nominated Work	Results	Ref
Acapulco Black Film Festival	2014	Best Actress	Go for Sisters	Nominated
American Film Institute Awards	2003	Documentary Award	Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	Won
Black Reel Awards	2000	Best Supporting Actress — Theatrical	True Crime	Nominated
	2005	Outstanding Television or Miniseries Film (as Producer)	Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	Nominated
	2005	Best Director, Network/Cable Television	Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	Nominated
	2005	Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted, Network/Cable	Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	Nominated
	2014	Outstanding Actress, Motion Picture	Go for Sisters	Nominated
Clarence Derwent Awards	1996	Best Supporting Female (USA)	—	Won
Gotham Awards	2005	Best Ensemble Performance	Nine Lives	Nominated
	2011	Best Ensemble Performance	Take Shelter	Nominated
Lady Filmmakers Film Festival	2014	Feature Film (Best Actress)	Redemption Trail	Won
Locarno International Film Festival	2005	Best Actress	Nine Lives	Won
Miami Film Festival	2004	Documentary Features	Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	Nominated
NAACP Image Awards	2000	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture	True Crime	Nominated
	2000	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	The Practice	Nominated
NAMIC Vision Awards	2012	Best Performance — Drama	Men of A Certain Age	Nominated
News & Documentary Emmy Awards	2005	Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Direction	Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards	1999	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Practice	Nominated	[11]
	2000			Nominated	[12]
	2001			Nominated	[13]

References

1. Guthmann, Edward (February 25, 2004). "HBO shines light on Beah Richards, a mentor to many". San Francisco Chronicle. When LisaGay Hamilton was making the film "Beloved" in 1997, she never dreamed she'd one day make a documentary about her co-star, actress Beah Richards. "Beah changed my life," said Hamilton, 39, at the African American Museum and Library in Oakland, where her film showed last weekend.
2. Schaefer, Stephen (November 18, 2013). "Role triggers fear". Boston Herald. Playing Bernice, a Los Angeles parole officer in "Go for Sisters" was an eye opener for LisaGay Hamilton. "The first thing when I read this was, 'I need to talk to a parole officer,' and although I hate guns 'I need some training,' " said Hamilton, 49.
3. LisaGaye Hamilton, 'Growing Up Female is a Journey,' in Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female, ed. By Willa Shalit, (New York: Hyperion Books, 2006)
4. Robin D. G. Kelley, 'Freedom is Living': LisaGaye Hamilton’s Radical Imagination,' Transforming Anthropology 14, no. 1 (April 2006), 2-9.
5. S. Torriano Berry (2015). Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 198. ISBN 9781442247024.
6. "Filmography". lisagayhamilton.com.
7. Isherwood, Charles (November 7, 2007). "A College is Stalked By Attitude". The New York Times.
8. "LisaGay Hamilton : Official Website, Film, Television and Theater Actress and Director, The Practice, Beah: A Black Woman Speaks, Beloved". www.lisagayhamilton.com.
9. "Hamilton Joins CalArts Faculty". Broadway World.
10. McNulty, Charles (August 1, 2023). "Review: A tale of sorrow and survival simmers in Pasadena Playhouse's 'Stew'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
11. "The 5th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
12. "The 6th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
13. "The 7th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved June 30, 2021.

External links

• Official website
• LisaGay Hamilton at IMDb