Alfre Woodard

American actress

Person · Open Library

Works: 1

Top works

Down in the Delta

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Alfre Ette Woodard (born November 8, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Grammy Award, 12 times for Emmy Awards (winning four), and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss Firecracker, Grand Canyon, Passion Fish, Primal Fear, Star Trek: First…

Known for

The Boroughs — Judy Daniels2026
The Inquisitor — Narration2025
The Last Frontier — Jacqueline Bradford2025
Number One on the Call Sheet — Self2025
Summer Camp — Mary2024
The Book of Clarence — Mother Mary2024
Salem's Lot — Dr. Cody2024
Monsieur Spade — Virginia Dell2024
Weathering — Mum2023

Article

Alfre Woodard (/ˈælfri ˈwʊdərd/ AL-free WUUD-ərd; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Grammy Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century". She is a board member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Woodard began her acting career in theater, starring in So Nice, They Named It Twice, and breaking through by originating the role of “woman who lost her stuff” in the Off-Broadway play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1977). She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Cross Creek (1983). She earned a BAFTA Award for Best Actress nomination for her role in Clemency (2019). Woodard's notable films include Grand Canyon (1991), Passion Fish (1992), Heart and Souls (1993), Crooklyn (1994), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Primal Fear (1996), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Down in the Delta (1998), 12 Years a Slave (2013), and Juanita (2019). She voiced Sarabi in The Lion King (2019).