Biography

Alfre Woodard

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Alfre Woodard was born on November 8, 1952 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the youngest of three children of Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H. Woodard, an interior designer. She was named by her godmother, who claimed she saw a vision of Alfre's name written out in gold letters. A former high school cheerleader and track star, she got the acting bug after being persuaded to audition for a school play by a nun at her school. She went on to study acting at Boston University and enjoyed a brief stint on Broadway before moving to Los Angeles, California. She got her first break in Remember My Name (1978) which also starred Jeff Goldblum. She lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband, writer Roderick M. Spencer, and their two adopted children: Mavis and Duncan. She was named one of the Most Beautiful People in America by People Magazine.
- IMDb mini biography by: alfrewoodard.homestead.com

Jonathan Frakes calls her his "godmother". The two became friends as young actors in the 1970s.
She was so impressed with the script of the independent film Follow Me Home (1996), that she offered to play the role of Evey without pay; much to the delight and awe of filmmaker Peter Bratt.
Her part in Primal Fear (1996) was originally written for a 60-year old Caucasian male. When Woodard was offered the part she accepted the part with one condition; That the age and race would be the only element that changed about the character, and not a single other trait.
Among the Star Trek toys released for the film Star Trek: First Contact (1996), an action figure was made of Alfre in the likeness of her character in the film, Lily Sloane.
Was convinced on to star in 12 Years a Slave (2013) without reading the script, because she wanted to work with Steve McQueen.

[on her marriage] We were both taught, "You pick your friends on how they treat you - not by what they have or what they look like". We get twice the cultures.
I'm a mom and a wife. That's what I do in the world. That's my identity. Second, I'm an actor.
[on Bérénice Bejo's performance in The Past (2013)] As Marie in Asghar Farhadi's "The Past," Bérénice Bejo has a daunting task. She plays a woman in an increasingly grim dilemma, which is largely of her own making. Yet somehow, in her passionate eyes, we see glimpses of Marie's hope for, and even belief in, a loving future for herself and her family. Such are Bérénice's gifts that her performance remains unadorned, yet deeply layered. So the film's increasingly tragic revelations feel at once inevitable and utterly surprising. Berenice's taut yet unstrained simplicity anchors Farhadi's film and serves as the gravitational center for her fellow actors. As always, Ms. Bejo's luminous face wordlessly expresses the depths of emotion that the filmmaker wishes us to know.
I'm on the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. We spent a year accumulating all the data out there on how arts infused into students' education affects their grade point averages, graduation rates, discipline.
I've surrendered to Facebook just to maintain a relationship with my children. I also follow them on Twitter. They're witty, irreverent, hip. I have only eight friends. Otherwise, it becomes a job.

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