The Practice

Background:

African American actress and director Lisa Gay Hamilton enjoyed success on stage playing Veronica in Athol Fugard's “Valley Song” before rising to stardom as attorney Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama “The Practice” (1997-2003), from which she took home an Image nomination and three Screen Actors Guild nominations. In addition, she has had roles in several TV films and appeared as a guest star in such popular TV series as “Law & Order,” “Ally McBeal,” “Sex and the City,” “ER,” “The L Word” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” On the wide screen, Hamilton received an Image nomination and Black Reel nomination after portraying the devoted wife of Isaiah Washington in Clint Eastwood's “True Crime” (1999). She co-won a Locarno International Film Festival Award for her work in the ensemble “Nine Lives” (2005) and acted in movies like Quentin Tarantino's “Jackie Brown” (1997), Jonathan Demme's “Beloved” (1998), “The Truth About Charlie” (2002), “The Sum of All Fears” (2002), John Sayles' “Honeydripper” (2007), “Deception” (2008) and “The Soloist” (2009). She currently portrays Melissa in the series “Men of a Certain Age” (2009-2010) and will appear as Zola in Daniel Barnz’s upcoming movie “Beastly” (2010).

As a director, Hamilton earned an AFI Fest Award and two Black Reel nominations for her work in the HBO documentary “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks” (2003).

Juilliard Graduate

Childhood and Family:

Lisa Gay Hamilton was born on March 25, 1964, in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Ira Hamilton, a real estate agent and construction employer, and Tina, a retired social worker. When she was 4 years old, her family relocated to Long Island, New York. Lisa studied theater at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New York University in New York. She received a master's degree in drama from the prestigious Juilliard School in New York in 1988. Lisa has a sister named Heidi, who is an attorney.

Hamilton married actor Robin Kelley on August 23, 2009.

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

Career:

Lisa Gay Hamilton became interested in acting when she was a child. Making her first public appearance in a school production when she was in the third grade, she commuted to Manhattan for private acting lessons in junior high. During the same time, she also participated in summer drama camps and later studied at New York University and Juilliard. She received her first break playing Isabella in a New York Shakespearean Festival production of “Measure for Measure” (1993), which starred Kevin Kline and Andre Braugher. She later picked up an Obie Award, the Clarence Derwent Award and a Drama Desk nomination for her performance as a South African teenager in “Valley Song” (1995), a play by Athol Fugard she first played at Princeton, New Jersey, before its off-Broadway run in New York City and Los Angeles. Additional stage credits include the original Broadway production of August Wilson's “The Piano Lesson,” where she had the supporting role of Grace, and the Joseph Papp Public Theatre production of Shakespeare's “Twelfth Night.”

Hamilton kicked off her film career in the small part of Aisha in “Krush Groove” (1985). She did not appear in another film until 1990's “Reversal of Fortune,” starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons. She picked up another bit part in the Daniel Algrant directed comedy “Naked New York” (1993), opposite Eric Stoltz. She then played the suffering wife of Adam Trese in Alan Taylor's “Palookaville” (1995) and gained notice for portraying Brenda in Peter Cohn's “Drunks,” which premiered at the Boston Film Festival in 1995 before receiving a limited theatrical release in 1997. Still in 1995, she also appeared in Terry Gilliam's comedy “Twelve Monkey,” starring Bruce Willis.

By this time, Hamilton had collected several TV credits. She broke into the small screen as a guest star in “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993), followed by episodic roles in the series “New York Undercover” (1994) and “Law & Order” (1995). She also portrayed a character in “Clarissa” (1995), a pilot episode of the canceled series follow-up to Nickelodeon's “Clarissa Explains it All.” She also played Celia Wilson #1 on the daytime series “All My Children” (1994) and Dr. Laura Reed in the soap opera “One Life to Live” (1996).

Frequently cast in small roles, Hamilton's luck began to change in 1997 when she landed the role of Rebecca Washington in the David E. Kelley created weekly television series “The Practice.” For her acting, she was handed an Image nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2000) and jointly netted three consecutive Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1999-2001). Hamilton stayed with the prime time show until the 2003 season, a year before it was canceled.

Hamilton continued to pursue her big screen career. She supported Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, James McCaffrey and John Dossett in the independent comedy “Nick and Jane” (1997), appeared with Luke Perry in the thriller “Lifebreath” (1997), impressively portrayed Sheronda in Quentin Tarantino's “Jackie Brown” (1997) and her voice could be heard as Shirley Jones in the thriller “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (1998). In Jonathan Demme's “Beloved” (1998), based on the novel by Toni Morrison, she played the young version of Oprah Winfrey's character. She was then cast as the wife of a death row convict in Clint Eastwood's “True Crime” (1999), from which she received an Image nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture and a Black Reel nomination for Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress. On working with Eastwood, she said, “Every director has their own theory about filmmaking and I think Clint's process is a mixture for me. I really love to collaborate. I love to talk and I love more than one take and he's not that. It's not that he's difficult; he just doesn't want to talk about it. At one point he said to me, ‘I really haven't said anything to you because you really are doing everything.’ Now I respected his process of working, but I'm not sure I enjoyed the process because it's a very isolated way of working.”

In addition, Hamilton also portrayed Jeanne Baptiste in the Showtime film “The Defenders: Choice of Evils” (1998) and appeared as a woman charged with murder in the television movie “Swing Vote” (1999).

Entering the new millennium, Hamilton played a cotton plantation slave in “A House Divided” (2000), a TV film based on a book by Kent Anderson Leslie that also starred Sam Waterston and Jennifer Beals. She was then cast as Ophelia in a small screen version of “Hamlet” (2000). Back to the wide screen, she supplied a monologue for “Ten Tiny Love Stories” (2001), appeared as Lorna Shiro in the successful action film “The Sum of All Fears” (2002), which starred Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman, and was reunited with “Beloved” director Jonathan Demme for the mystery “The Truth About Charlie” (2002), where she was cast as Lola Jansco.

After leaving “The Practice,” Hamilton made her directorial debut with “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks” (2003), a documentary for HBO about the late actress, poet and playwright Beah Richards. The film brought Hamilton a Documentary Award from the AFI Fest and two Black Reel nominations, including one for Best Director, Network/Cable Television. She returned to feature films with 2005's “Nine Lives,” which was written and directed by Rodrigo García. For her work in the film, she earned a Bronze Leopard for Best Actress from the Locarno International Film Festival and a Gotham nomination for Best Ensemble Cast. Hamilton revisited series TV to play Teresa Randall in two episodes of “Law & Order: SVU” (2006-2007). She also made guest appearances in such shows as “The L Word” (2004), “ER” (2005), “Without a Trace” (2006) and “Numb3rs” (2007).

More recently, Hamilton was cast as Delilah in John Sayles' award winning film “Honeydripper” (2007), opposite Danny Glover, appeared with Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams and Maggie Q in the action film “Deception” (2008) and starred with Robert Downy Jr. and Jamie Foxx in “The Soloist” (2009). Hamilton currently portrays Melissa in the series “Men of a Certain Age” (2009-2010) and will appear as Zola in Daniel Barnz’s upcoming movie “Beastly” (2010).

Awards:

• Locarno International Film Festival: Bronze Leopard, Best Actress, “Nine Lives,” 2005

• AFI Fest: Documentary Award, “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks,” 2003