American producer and actress of stage and screen Aunjanue Ellis has made it her mission to make Black women proud.
“I want to speak for them and to them in ways where they feel honored, where they feel that I’m doing and saying something that reflects their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their aspirations,” she said in a June 2022 interview with Variety.
The critically acclaimed actress, who has been nominated for eight major awards and nominated for or won more than 50 others, should rest assured that she has succeeded in that regard – and made the majority of others around her proud, as well.
Ellis was raised on her grandmother’s farm in Magnolia, Mississippi. She attended Tougaloo College before transferring to Brown University, where she earned her degree in African-American studies. Her interest in acting was sparked by appearing in a student play at Brown and, after graduation, she went on to study in the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
Ellis made her professional acting debut in 1995 in the Broadway revival of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” The following year, she made her television debut in an episode of “New York Undercover” and had a co-leading role in the independent film “Girls Town.” Over the next few years, she appeared in “Ed's Next Move,” “Desert Blue,” “In Too Deep,” and had a recurring role on the ABC legal drama “The Practice.”
The 2000s and 2010s saw Ellis appear in a number of notable roles. She starred in “Men of Honor” with Cuba Gooding Jr. and had the main role in the comedy “Undercover Brother.” She appeared in films about musicians, including “Ray” and “Notorious,” and returned to the stage for a number of Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She appeared in the critically acclaimed period drama “The Help,” and had recurring roles on “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “Quantico.”
Recently, Ellis starred in the Netflix miniseries “When They See Us” and film “King Richard,” for which she earned her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nominations. Next up, Ellis is starring in the 2023 musical film “The Color Purple.”