Lynn Whitfield

Acting

Lynn Whitfield

Born 1953-02-15 · Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Lynn Whitfield (née Smith; born February 15, 1953) is an American actress. She began her acting career in television and theatre before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her breakout performance as Josephine Baker in the HBO biographical film The Josephine Baker Story (1991). In the 1990s, Whitfield played leading roles in a number of made-for-television movies and had several starring roles in theatrical films, including A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996), Gone Fishin' (1997), Eve's Bayou (1997), Stepmom (1998), Head of State (2003), Madea's Family Reunion (2006), and The Women (2008). Whitfield also starred in a number of movies in the 2000s and 2010s. From 2016 to 2020, she starred as Lady Mae Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network dramatic series Greenleaf, for which she won critical acclaim and garnered two NAACP Image Awards and a Gracie Award. She later appeared in the films Nappily Ever After (2018), Vacation Friends (2021), and The Retirement Plan (2023). Whitfield has won a total of seven NAACP Image Awards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lynn Whitfield, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

The Rebound poster
6.5

Upon discovering her husband's infidelity, Sandy leaves the suburbs and moves into the city. There, she befriends Aram, a guy whose wife only married him so she could get a green card. Sandy hires Aram to be her nanny, and it isn't long until Aram and Sandy find out they get along wonderfully and start to date. But is their relationship real or is it, in fact, just a rebound for both of them?

The Rebound

2009

Silverado poster
6.9

Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.

Silverado

1985

Stepmom poster
7.2

Jackie is a divorced mother of two. Isabel is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke, forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest, while they have the chance.

Stepmom

1998

Jaws: The Revenge poster
4.1

After another deadly shark attack, Ellen Brody decides she has had enough of New England's Amity Island and moves to the Caribbean to join her son, Michael, and his family. But a great white shark has followed her there, hungry for more lives.

Jaws: The Revenge

1987

Vacation Friends poster
7.0

When a straight-laced couple that has fun with a rowdy couple on vacation in Mexico return to the States, they discover that the crazy couple they met in Mexico followed them back home and decide to play tricks on them.

Vacation Friends

2021

The Retirement Plan poster
5.8

When Ashley and her young daughter Sarah get caught up in a criminal enterprise that puts their lives at risk, she turns to the only person who can help: her estranged father Matt, currently living the life of a retired beach bum in the Cayman Islands. Their reunion is fleeting as they are soon tracked down on the island by crime boss Donnie and his lieutenant Bobo. As Ashley, Sarah, and Matt become entangled in an increasingly dangerous web, Ashley quickly learns her father had a secret past that she knew nothing about and that there is more to her father than meets the eye.

The Retirement Plan

2023

Strung poster
7.6

A talented violinist's prestigious new role as a music tutor for an enigmatic, elite family spirals into a psychological battle for her safety and sanity.

Strung

2026

Madea's Family Reunion poster
6.3

Southern matriarch Madea has a lot on her plate. Her nieces, Vanessa and Lisa, have relationship troubles - Vanessa moves into Madea's house with her 2 young children and Lisa is engaged to a controlling man that her mother set her up with. In addition, Madea has just been court-ordered to become the guardian of Nikki, a rebellious runaway teenager. Madea must keep the peace and her family together while simultaneously planning her clan's reunion.

Madea's Family Reunion

2006

Eve's Bayou poster
6.5

Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.

Eve's Bayou

1997

Gone Fishin' poster
4.9

Two fishing fanatics get in trouble when their fishing boat gets stolen while on a trip.

Gone Fishin'

1997

The Women poster
5.2

The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary's man.

The Women

2008

Head of State poster
5.6

When a presidential candidate dies unexpectedly in the middle of the campaign, the Democratic party unexpectedly picks a Washington, D.C. alderman as his replacement.

Head of State

2003

Nappily Ever After poster
7.2

After an accident at the hair salon, Violet realizes she's not living life to the fullest. A soulful barber helps her put the pieces back together.

Nappily Ever After

2018

The Cheetah Girls poster
6.1

A four-member teen girl group named the Cheetah Girls go to a Manhattan High School for the Performing Arts and try to become the first freshmen to win the talent show in the school's history. During the talent show auditions, they meet a big-time producer named Jackal Johnson, who tries to make the group into superstars, but the girls run into many problems.

The Cheetah Girls

2003

The Cheetah Girls 2 poster
6.3

Best friends Galleria, Chanel, Dorinda, and Aqua, A.K.A. the girl band "The Cheetahs," get the opportunity of a lifetime when they strut their way to Barcelona, Spain, to perform in an international music festival. Along the way, the "amigas Cheetahs" learn that, although their paths are not the same, they are lucky to have one another for the journey.

The Cheetah Girls 2

2006

Lap Dance poster
4.2

An aspiring actress makes a pact with her fiancé to start stripping to foot her dad’s cancer bills but learns that fast money comes with a price.

Lap Dance

2014

Tales from the Hood 3 poster
5.2

Following the franchise's cult classic roots, this new anthology featuring Tony Todd and Lynn Whitfield will scare and thrill with its horrifying twists and social commentary.

Tales from the Hood 3

2020

Fear Files poster
1.0

Fear Files explores three tales of love, revenge and murder and the consequences that occur when supernatural forces take over the lives of three unsuspecting victims.

Fear Files

2015

The Josephine Baker Story poster
6.0

Biography of the African-American who became a major performer in the Paris cabarets of the 1920s and 1930s. The film follows her life beginning as a struggling performer in 1917 St. Louis, her frustrations leading to her move to France, and follows to her death in 1975. Written by John Sacksteder

The Josephine Baker Story

1991

In the Army Now poster
5.1

Bones Conway and Jack Kaufman, two misguided youths, join the reserves to make some easy money for their entrepreneurial dreams. Unfortunately, no sooner than they finish basic training they find themselves at war as part of the water purification team.

In the Army Now

1994

We Need a Little Christmas poster
6.2

Julie is adjusting to being a single mother to a grieving child while facing her first Christmas without her husband when she develops an unexpected friendship with her older neighbor Irene.

We Need a Little Christmas

2022

PoliWood poster
6.5

An in-depth look at the Democratic and Republican national conventions held during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election year.

PoliWood

2009

And Then There Was You poster
5.3

Natalie and Joshua appear to be the picture-perfect couple, but looks can be deceiving. When Natalie discovers her husband has led a secret life, she is forced to deal with losing everything she loves. Newly divorced and soured on relationships, Natalie is picking up the pieces of her shattered world. In the process of healing, she meets a new man who challenges the boundaries of her trust and her ability to fall in love again.

And Then There Was You

2013

Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story poster
6.0

Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.

Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story

2004

Behind the camera