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Loretta Devine

Equally at home on stage or on screen, Loretta Devine has created some of the most memorable roles in theatre, film and television. The award-winning actress first captured national attention in the role of Lorrell, one of the three original Dreamgirls in Michael Bennett's classic Broadway musical of the same name. Devine also made a cameo in the recent film version, as well.

Devine graduated from the University of Houston and later received a Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts from Brandeis University. She followed her Broadway run in Dreamgirls with a fiery performance in Bob Fosse's critically acclaimed stage production, Big Deal. Subsequent work in George C. Wolfe's Colored Museum and Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill cemented Devine's status as one of our most talented and versatile stage actresses.

Film roles soon followed, including a poignant turn as a single mother opposite Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett and Gregory Hines in Waiting to Exhale, which earned her a NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress. Devine also won an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Penny Marshall's The Preacher's Wife. She received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Women Thou Art Loosed and was featured in the Academy Award-winning film Crash.

Additional film credits include appearances in the successful Urban Legend franchise, I Am Sam (opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn), Kingdom Come, What Women Want, Punks, Hoodlums, Down in the Delta and Stanley and Iris. Devine also appeared in Sticky Fingers, Amos and Andrew, The Breaks, The Price of Kissing, Lover Girl, Class Act, Living Large, Caged Fear and Little Nikita. She recently starred in Sony/Screen Gems' holiday release, This Christmas and the independent film Dirty Laundry.

On television, Devine is currently featured in the hit ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. She received three NAACP Image Awards for her role on David E. Kelley's Fox series, Boston Public. Additional credits include series roles in A Different World and Lifetime Television's Wild Card. Devine also provided the voice of Muriel Stubbs on the beloved cartoon, The PJ's.

Devine currently resides in Los Angeles.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2008.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Loretta Devine Facts

OccupationActress
BirthdayAugust 21, 1949 (73)
SignLeo
BirthplaceHouston, Texas, USA

Selected Filmography

Norm Of The North
First Sunday
No Regrets
What Women Want
This Christmas
Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family
Dreamgirls
Hoodlum
I Am Sam
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