Regina Taylor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Regina Taylor
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![]() Taylor in 2010
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Born | August 22, 1960 |
Education | Southern Methodist University (BFA) |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1980–present |
Regina Taylor, born on August 22, 1960, is a talented American actress and a writer of plays. She has won many important awards during her career. These include a Golden Globe Award and an NAACP Image Award. In July 2017, she was chosen for a special teaching position at Fordham University. This position is called the Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theater.
Contents
Early Life and Education
When Regina Taylor was 12 years old, her family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. Later, they moved back to Dallas. She finished high school at L. G. Pinkston High School in 1977.
Acting Career
Regina Taylor started her acting career in television movies. She was still studying at Southern Methodist University at the time. Her first roles were in Nurse (1980) and Crisis at Central High (1981).
Early Roles and Recognition
In Crisis at Central High, she played Minnijean Brown. Minnijean Brown was one of the Little Rock Nine. This was a group of African-American students. They bravely helped to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957. A critic from The New York Times praised her acting in this role.
Her first role that many people noticed was in the 1989 film Lean on Me. She played Mrs. Carter, a mother facing challenges. She became very well known for her role as Lilly Harper. This was in the TV series I'll Fly Away in the early 1990s. For this role, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She also won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. In 2018, Taylor appeared in the NBC crime series The Blacklist. She played Dr. Hannah Moshay in its fifth season.
Film and Television Roles
Since then, Regina Taylor has had many supporting roles in movies. These include the Spike Lee film Clockers, Courage Under Fire, and A Family Thing. She also appeared in The Negotiator. She was in Losing Isaiah and Strange Justice. In Strange Justice, she played Anita Hill. She also had a main role in the PBS movie Cora Unashamed. This movie was based on a short story by Langston Hughes. She was a main cast member for all four seasons of the CBS drama The Unit.
Stage Performances
Regina Taylor is also a very talented stage actress. She was the first Black woman to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. Her other Broadway plays include Macbeth and As You Like It. She has also acted in plays off-Broadway and in regional theaters. These include Jar the Floor and Machinal. In 1987, she played Ariel in The Tempest. This was at the La Jolla Playhouse in California. She won an award for her performance.
In 2016, Taylor was in the first episode of Time After Time. She played Vanessa Anders. However, another actress took over the role before the show aired.
Playwriting Career
As of 2022, Regina Taylor is a writer-in-residence at the Signature Theatre. Her play stop. reset. first showed there in September 2013. Taylor also directed this play.
Notable Plays
She wrote Escape from Paradise, a one-woman show. It was performed in Chicago in 1995. Her short plays Watermelon Rinds and Inside the Belly of the Beast were also performed in 1994. She wrote and acted in Millennium Mambo in 2000. She also wrote A Night in Tunisia, which premiered in 2000.
In 2000, Taylor won an award for best new play. This was from the American Critics' Association for her play Oo-Bla-Dee. This play was about female jazz musicians in the 1940s.
She wrote and directed Crowns. This play first showed in October 2002. Crowns is a play that includes gospel music. It is based on a book of photographs. Crowns has been performed in many places across the country. It was the most performed musical in the U.S. in 2006. It won four Helen Hayes Awards. Taylor won for Best Direction.
She also wrote and directed Drowning Crow. This play was based on The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. Drowning Crow was performed on Broadway in February 2004.
Taylor's play The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove premiered in January 2005. It tells the story of Madam C.J. Walker. She was an African-American businesswoman.
Her play Magnolia premiered in March 2009. It is set in Atlanta in 1963, during the start of desegregation. In 2011, Taylor returned to the Goodman Theatre for her new play, The Trinity River Plays. This is a group of three plays: Jar Fly, Rain, and Ghoststory.
Taylor's 2017 play A Seat at the Table was created for Carthage College. This play tells the story of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.
Personal Life
According to a DNA test, Regina Taylor's family mainly comes from the Mende people of Sierra Leone and the Kru people of Liberia. She is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. In 1982, she married artist Mario Emes.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1980 | Nurse | Unknown | |
1981 | Crisis at Central High | Minniejean Brown | Television movie |
1984 | American Playhouse | Burnetta | Episode: "Concealed Enemies, Part I: Suspicion" |
1989 | Lean on Me | Mrs. Carter | |
1991 | Law & Order | Evelyn Griggs | Episode: "Mushrooms" |
1991–1993 | I'll Fly Away | Lilly Harper | 38 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series (1992–93) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1992–93) |
1992 | Jersey Girl | Rosie | |
1993 | I'll Fly Away: Then and Now | Lilly Harper | Television movie |
1994 | Law & Order | Sarah Maslin | Episode: "Virtue" |
1995 | Children of the Dust | Drusilla | Television movie Nominated—Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie |
1995 | Losing Isaiah | Gussie | |
1995 | Clockers | Iris Jeeter | Nominated—Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture |
1995 | The Keeper | Angela Lamont | |
1996 | A Family Thing | Ann | |
1996 | Courage Under Fire | Meredith Serling | Nominated—Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture |
1997 | Spirit Lost | Willy | |
1997 | Hostile Waters | Lieutenant Curtis | Television movie |
1997 | The Third Twin | Sergeant Michelle Delaware | Television movie |
1998 | The Negotiator | Karen Roman | |
1999 | Strange Justice | Anita Hill | Television movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film |
2000 | Cora Unashamed | Cora Jenkins | Television movie |
2001–2002 | The Education of Max Bickford | Judith Bryant | 22 episodes |
2006–2009 | The Unit | Molly Blane | 69 episodes Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series |
2006 | In From the Night | Dr. A. Gardner | Television movie |
2008 | Grey's Anatomy | Greta | Episode: "Losing My Mind" |
2010 | Who Is Clark Rockefeller? | Megan Norton | Television movie |
2015 | Dig | Ruth Lidell | TV series |
2016 | Time After Time | Vanessa Anders | Unaired pilot |
2016 | Elementary | Dr. Wilkerson | S05-E15 |
2017 | Saturday Church | Aunt Rose | |
2018 | The Blacklist | Dr. Hannah Moshay | Episode: Pattie Sue Edwards |
2020 | Lovecraft Country | Hattie | |
2020 | All Day & A Night | Tommetta | |
2022 | The First Lady | Marian Shields Robinson | |
2022 | Blue Bloods | NYPD Captain Terrell | Episode: "On the Arm" |
2023 | East New York | Councilwoman | Episode: "There Goes The Neighborhood" |
2023 | CSI: Vegas | Raquel Williams | Episode: "The Promise" |
2024 | Dreams in Nightmares | Bernice |