Background:

Kasi Lemmons is an American actress and film director. Her first feature directorial debut, “Eve's Bayou” (1997), earned her an Independent Spirit Award, a National Board of Review Award, an Acapulco Black Film Festival Award and the Palm Springs International Film Festival Director's Achievement Award. She picked up an Image Award for her third film, “Talk to Me” (2007). Lemmons's acting credits include roles on films such as “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), “Candyman” (1992), “Fear of a Black Hat” (1993), “Gridlock'd” (1997) and “Waist Deep” (2006) as well as guest spots in “The Cosby Show,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “ER,” among other TV shows.

Lemmons has been married to actor and director Vondie Curtis Hall since 1995.  They have two children together.     


Karen

Childhood and Family:

Kasi Lemmons was born Karen Lemmons on February 24, 1961, in St. Louis, Missouri, to a biology teacher father and a poet/psychotherapist mother. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old. She and her mother and two sisters then moved to Newton, Massachusetts. Her mom remarried when she was nine. Kasi performed in Boston Children's Theatre as a child. She went to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before transferring to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California to major in history. However, she finally departed UCLA and enrolled in the film program at the New School for Social Research in N.Y.C. She also attended the Alvin Ailey School, the New York School of Ballet, the Circle in the Square Professional Theater School and The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute all in New York.

In 1995, Kasi married Vondie Curtis Hall. The couple have two children, son Henry Hunter Hall (born in 1996) and daughter Zora Hall (born 1999).   


The Silence of the Lambs

Career:

Kasi Lemmons kicked off her professional career in 1979 with a part as hostage in the television movie “11th Victim,” which was helmed by Jonathan Kaplan and starred Bess Armstrong, Max Gail and Harold Gould. However, she then took several years off from acting to concentrate on her study. She eventually returned to television with a guest spot in “Spenser: For Hire” in 1985. She went on to appear in episodes of “ABC Afterschool Specials” (1986) and “As the World Turns” (1987) and in the made for television film “Adam's Apple” (1986), playing Marcy Potts.

After attending a film school, Lemmons entered to features by writing, directing, shooting and editing the short documentary “Fall From Grace” (1987). It was shown at the IFP on October 16, 1987. In the following year, Lemmons made her feature acting debut in Spike Lee's musical/drama “School Daze,” starring Laurence Fishburne and Giancarlo Esposito. The same year, she also appeared in “Vampire's Kiss,” a comedy/fantasy movie starring Nicolas Cage, Maria Conchita Alonso and Jennifer Beals, in two episodes of “The Cosby Show” called “The Birth: Part 1” and “The Birth: Part 2” (as  Miss Mckegney) and in an episode of “ The Equalizer” called “The Day of the Covenant” (as Zandili). She then made a guest appearance in “A Man Called Hawk” (1989) and played the character of Tess Parker in the soap opera “Another World” from 1989 to 1990.    

Lemmons landed her first leading role in a TV movie in TNT's “The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson” (1990), opposite Andre Braugher, Daniel Stern and Ruby Dee. The film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Single Camera Production. It was followed by performances in the TV films “The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake” (1990) and “Before the Storm” (1991) as well as a regular role in the short lived series “Under Cover” (1991).She was cast as Ardelia Mapp, the roommate of Clarice Starling, in the popular movie adaptation of “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), which was directed by Jonathan Demme and starred Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine, and Scott Glenn, and appeared in “The Five Heartbeats” (1991), a musical drama film directed and co-written by and starring Robert Townsend.

After a significant part as Bernadette 'Bernie' Walsh  in the horror film “Candyman” (1992), Lemmons got her first leading role in a film in the mockumentary “Fear of a Black Hat” (1993), in which she played the role of the interviewer Nina Blackburn. She portrayed a detective name Marie Mitchell in John Woo's “Hard Target” (1993), co-starred in the drama “Drop Squad” (1994), opposite Eriq La Salle, husband Vondie Curtis-Hall and Ving Rhames, and appeared in the short film “Override” (1994). In addition, the actress made guest appearances in “Murder, She Wrote” and “Walker, Texas Ranger” (both 1993) and had a supporting role in the TV film “Zooman” (1995), starring Louis Gossett Jr., Charles S. Dutton and Cynthia Martells.

In 1997, Lemmons made her feature directorial debut with “Eve's Bayou,” a drama which she also wrote and produced by Samuel L. Jackson, who also starred in the film. Released theatrically on November 7 of that year, the film received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and won many awards and nominations, including a National Board of Review for Outstanding Directorial Debut, an Independent Spirit for Best First Feature, an Acapulco Black Film Festival for Best Director and Palm Springs International Film Festival's Director's Achievement Award all for Lemmons.

Lemmons followed it up by directing and writing the short film “Dr. Hugo” (1998), starring her husband, Michael Beach and Victoria Rowell. She continued on her acting career by playing roles on such films as “Gridlock'd” (1997), the debut feature film by husband Vondie Curtis-Hall, “'Til There Was You” (1997) and “Liars' Dice” (1998).  

In 2001, Lemmons returned to the director's chair with “The Caveman's Valentine,” a mystery/drama adapted from the novel of the same name by George Dawes Green, who also wrote the screenplay. The film, starred Samuel L. Jackson, failed to achieve the same success as its predecessor.    

In 2002, Lemmons appeared as Chemo Tech in an episode of “ER” called “It's All in Your Head.”

After having a small part in her husband's film “Waist Deep” (2006), Lemmons helmed her third feature, “Talk to Me” (2007), a biographical film about Washington, D.C. radio personality Ralph “Petey” Greene (played by Don Cheadle), an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist, and Dewey Hughes (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), his friend and manager.  Premiered as the opening night film of the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, the film earned favorable reviews from critics and scored $4,778,376 at the box office. She was handed an Image Award in the category of Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) for her work.

In 2012, Lemmons appeared in the drama/thriller movie “Disconnect,” which was directed by Henry Alex Rubin and written by Andrew Stern. Her co-stars in the film included Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgård and Jason Bateman.

Lemmons is the director and writer of “Black Nativity,” Langston Hughes' gospel musical re-telling of the Bible's nativity story, which is now in pre-production. The film will star Angela Bassett and Jacob Latimore, among other names.


Awards:

Image: Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television), “Talk to Me,” 2008
Acapulco Black Film Festival: Black Film Award, Best Director, “Eve's Bayou,” 1998
Independent Spirit: Best First Feature, “Eve's Bayou,” 1998
Palm Springs International Film Festival: Director's Achievement Award, 1998
National Board of Review (NBR): Outstanding Directorial Debut, “Eve's Bayou,” 1997 Show Less