LisaGay Hamilton

• Actress

LisaGay Hamilton is an American actress, director, and producer born in 1964 in Los Angeles, California. She was raised primarily in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island, and developed an early love for the theater. Her educational background is extensive, including studies at Carnegie Mellon University before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from New York University's Tisch Drama School in 1985, and later a Master's degree in drama from The Juilliard School in 1989. Hamilton established herself as a serious dramatic actor in classical theater, with credits including a role opposite Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Measure for Measure, and winning an Obie Award for her portrayal in Athol Fugard's play Valley Song in the mid-1990s. She was also an original cast member on Broadway for August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. Hamilton's most widely recognized television role is that of secretary-turned-lawyer Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama The Practice, a role she held from 1997 to 2003. Her other significant TV appearances include Melissa Thoreau on the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age (2009–2011), Celia Jones on House of Cards (2016), and roles in Chance and The First. Her film career spans over two dozen movies, featuring roles in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997), Beloved (1998) alongside Oprah Winfrey, True Crime (1999), The Sum of All Fears (2002), The Soloist (2009), Beautiful Boy (2018), and she portrayed Condoleezza Rice in Vice (2018). In addition to acting, Hamilton is an acclaimed director; she won a Peabody Award in 2005 for creating and directing the 2003 documentary film Beah: A Black Woman Speaks, about pioneering actress Beah Richards, whom she met on the set of Beloved. She has also taught acting at the California Institute of the Arts.

Person History

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• Movies

The Boogeyman 2023

2023

The Boogeyman 2023

2023