The Practice

Background:

African-American actress of stage, film and television and director Lisa Gay Hamilton had enjoyed critical success on stage, most notably for playing Veronica in Athol Fugard's “Valley Song,” before rising to stardom as associate 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 major roles in several TV films and appeared as 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 a Black Reel nomination after portraying the devoted wife of Isaiah Washington in Clint Eastwood's “True Crime” (1999) and jointly won a Locarno International Film Festival Award for her work in the ensemble “Nine Lives” (2005). She has also acted in movies like Quentin Tarantino's “Jackie Brown” (1997), Jonathan Demme's “Beloved” (1998) and “The Truth About Charlie” (2002), “The Sum of All Fears” (2002), John Sayles' “Honeydripper” (2007), “Deception” (2008) and is now working with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. for the upcoming biographical film “The Soloist” (2008). 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 25m 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.

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

Career:

Los Angeles-born, Long Island-raised Lisa Gay Hamilton became interested in acting since she was a child. Making her first public appearance as Flip Wilson in a school production when she was still in the third grade, the vigorous girl had commuted to Manhattan for private acting lessons by the time she was in junior high. During the same period, she also participated in summer drama camps. With the intention of acting in Shakepearean drama, she went on to take formal training at NYU and then at The Juilliard School before gaining her first break playing Isabella in New York's 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 as well as a Drama Desk nomination for her performance as a South African teenager on the edge of adulthood wanting to become a singer in “Valley Song” (1995), a play by Athol Fugard she first played at Princeton, New Jersey before its Off-Broadway run in NYC and later in 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 a small part as Aisha in the drama/music “Krush Groove” (1985), but she did not make her next outing until five years later in 1990's “Reversal of Fortune,” starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons. She picked up another bit part in the Daniel Algrant-directed comedy/romance “Naked New York” (1993), opposite Eric Stoltz, 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 its limited theatrical release in 1997. Still in 1995, she also appeared in Terry Gilliam's black comedy “Twelve Monkey,” starring Bruce Willis.

By this time, Hamilton had collected several TV credits. She broke 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) as well as an important part in “Clarissa” (1995), a pilot episode of the canceled follow-up series to Nickelodeon's “Clarissa Explains it All.” Besides, she played Celia Wilson #1 on the daytime series “All My Children” (1994) and Dr. Laura Reed on the prime time soap “One Life to Live” (1996).

Frequently cast in small roles, Hamilton's luck started to change in 1997 when she landed the role of Rebecca Washington, the paralegal receptionist who bestowed to full-fledged attorney in the David E. Kelley-created weekly television series “The Practice.” For her fine 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.

Apart from her TV series assignment, Hamilton continued to pursue her big screen career. She supported Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, James McCaffrey and John Dossett in the indie-comedy “Nick and Jane” (1997), appeared with Luke Perry in the interesting thriller “Lifebreath” (1997), impressively portrayed Sheronda in Quentin Tarantino's “Jackie Brown” (1997) and her voice could be heard as Shirley 'Shirl' Jones in the horror/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, and was cast the wife of 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'' a very isolated way of working.”

In addition, Hamilton also appeared on other television projects, including playing Jeanne Baptiste in the Showtime film “The Defenders: Choice of Evils” (1998) and having a major role as a woman, who after an abortion, was charged for murder in the telepic “Swing Vote” (1999).

Entering the new millennium, Hamilton could be seen playing a cotton plantation slave on “A House Divided” (2000), a TV film based on a book by Kent Anderson Leslie that also starred Sam Waterston and Jennifer Beals, and being cast as Ophelia in the small screen version of “Hamlet” (2000). Back on the wide screen, she supplied a monologue for “Ten Tiny Love Stories” (2001), appeared as Capt. Lorna Shiro in the successful action film “The Sum of All Fears” (2002), which starred Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman, and 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,” an ensemble written and directed by Rodrigo García, and for her work in the film, she co-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 on 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 on John Sayles' award-winning drama film “Honeydripper” (2007), opposite Danny Glover, and appeared with Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams and Maggie Q in the action film “Deception” (2008). She is now filming “The Soloist”(2008), a biopic film by director Joe Wright. Playing Jennifer, she costars in the film along side Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener, Jamie Foxx, Rachael Harris, among others.

Awards:

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

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