Regina Taylor facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Regina Taylor
Taylor in 2010
Born	(1960-08-22) August 22, 1960 (age 65)
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.

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