1. Lorraine Toussaint is the recipient of various accolades, including a Black Reel Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
33 Facts About Lorraine Toussaint
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Lorraine Toussaint later appeared as a regular cast member in the NBC police procedural Crossing Jordan and the TNT crime drama Saving Grace.
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Lorraine Toussaint received critical acclaim and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in the 2012 drama film Middle of Nowhere, written and directed by Ava DuVernay.
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Lorraine Toussaint played the role of Amelia Boynton Robinson in the 2014 historical drama film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay.
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Lorraine Toussaint later co-starred in the ABC fantasy-drama series Forever, the Fox comedy-drama Rosewood, the AMC drama Into the Badlands, NBC drama The Village and CBS crime drama The Equalizer.
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Lorraine Toussaint's mother was a teacher, and she brought Toussaint to live in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, in the late 1960s.
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Lorraine Toussaint graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts in 1978.
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Lorraine Toussaint then attended the Juilliard School's drama division as a member of Group 11, where her classmates in 1982 included Megan Gallagher, Penny Johnson Jerald, Jack Kenny, and Jack Stehlin.
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Lorraine Toussaint graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
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Lorraine Toussaint later had a recurring role of Vera Williams in the ABC daytime soap opera, One Life to Live.
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Lorraine Toussaint acted in a number of television films in the 1990s.
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Lorraine Toussaint made her film debut in the female lead role opposite Burt Reynolds in the crime comedy Breaking In.
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Lorraine Toussaint appeared in films Point of No Return, Mother's Boys, and Black Dog.
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Lorraine Toussaint had her biggest and leading role alongside Annie Potts in the Lifetime first original television drama series, Any Day Now, starring as Rene Jackson, a successful African-American lawyer.
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In 2001, Lorraine Toussaint was a promising contender for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category, though she did not receive a nomination.
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Lorraine Toussaint was nominated five times for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role.
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From 2002 to 2004, Lorraine Toussaint had a regular role playing Dr Elaine Duchamps in the NBC police procedural, Crossing Jordan.
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Lorraine Toussaint was a regular, opposite Holly Hunter, in the TNT crime drama Saving Grace as Capt.
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Lorraine Toussaint had a recurring role as Amelia 'Yoga' Bluman in the ABC comedy series Ugly Betty in 2006, and as Bird Merriweather in the NBC drama Friday Night Lights.
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Lorraine Toussaint appeared as Jamie Foxx's character's mother in the 2009 drama The Soloist.
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In 2012, Lorraine Toussaint received critical acclaim and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her performance as a hardworking mother who struggles to support her daughter's decision to put her life on hold to support her incarcerated husband, of Middle of Nowhere, a drama film written and directed by Ava DuVernay.
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Lorraine Toussaint was a promising contender for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress category in 2013, but she did not receive a nomination.
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Lorraine Toussaint starred in the second season of Netflix's original comedy-drama series, Orange Is the New Black in 2014.
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Lorraine Toussaint played the role of Yvonne "Vee" Parker, the main antagonist of season two, described as a street-tough inmate who returns to jail after a long stint as a drug dealer.
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In 2014, Lorraine Toussaint co-starred in Ava DuVernay's historical drama film Selma, playing Amelia Boynton Robinson, a leading civil rights activist who had a key role in efforts that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act, and who was the first African-American woman in Alabama to run for Congress.
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Lorraine Toussaint co-starred in the comedy film Xmas, directed and written by Jonathan Levine, which was released on November 25,2015.
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Later that year, Lorraine Toussaint was cast in Coco, a drama produced by Lionsgate, alongside rapper Azealia Banks.
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Lorraine Toussaint played the role of Cressida, a self-styled Prophetess in season 3.
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In 2019, Lorraine Toussaint starred in the NBC limited drama series The Village.
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Lorraine Toussaint later starred in the superhero film Fast Color opposite Gugu Mbatha-Raw and played the role of Louise "Lou Lou" Baptiste in the horror film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark produced by Guillermo del Toro.
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Also in 2020, Lorraine Toussaint was cast as Viola "Aunt Vi" Lascombe in the CBS reboot for The Equalizer starring Queen Latifah.
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Lorraine Toussaint married a man named Michael Tomlinson in August 2017 but they divorced almost two years later in 2019.
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Lorraine Toussaint was raised Catholic but has since explored other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.