Known For: American actress (born 1953)
Category: Actresses
Country: United States of America
Date of Birth: Sunday, 15 February 1953
Language English
Lynn Whitfield 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).
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Whitfield was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Jean (née Butler), a former president of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, and Dr. Valerian Smith, who was also a composer who wrote the musicals, The Supper and The Wake. Her mother is a founding member of the Baton Rouge chapter of The Links Incorporated and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Whitfield is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is the eldest of four children and a third-generation BFA graduate from Howard University. Both parents were instrumental in developing Whitfield's initial interest in acting, as they were actively involved in the Baton Rouge art scene. Her love of movies was shared by her maternal grandmother, Estelle Devall Butler, who exposed her to them. By age five, Whitfield decided she wanted to be in them.
