She portrayed the unforgettable character, Brandi, in Martin Lawrence’s popular urban revenge saga, “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” and went on to score success as the beleaguered wife of Samuel L. Jackson in “Eve’s Bayou and film “The Josephine Baker Story” which earned her an Emmy Award.
With more than 30 years in the entertainment industry, Lynn Whitfield was recently honored by the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) with a Legacy Award at their annual Special Achievement Awards Luncheon.
Held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, this annual invitation-only awards ceremony honored Whitfield and several other significant individuals for their contributions to the entertainment industry.
Actors Brandon Wilson and Ethan Herisse received a Next Gen Award for their film “Nickel Boys,” a movie based on American novelist Colson Whitehead’s book about an abusive reform school in Florida. The movie also earned the film’s director RaMell Ross the Karen & Stanley Kramer Social Justice Award for spotlighting the abuse.
Amazon MGM Studios executive Amber Rasberry received the Horizon Award for elevating Black stories in film, and Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominated songwriter and composer, Taura Stinson was given the Ascension Award.
Presenters and guests included Keith David, Kelly Rowland, DeVon Franklin, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jennifer & Kat Kramer, along with AAFCA President and Founder Gil Robertson
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Whitfield has won five NAACP Image Awards numerous nominations for her work in television and film, including “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story,” co-starring Jamie Foxx. Her television credits include roles in the Oprah Winfrey-produced miniseries, “The Women of Brewster Place” and “The Wedding.” She also attracted a new generation of fans in two of the Disney Channel’s highest-rated movies, “The Cheetah Girls” and its sequel, “The Cheetah Girls 2″ and plays a contentious mother-in-law in the new movie “Albany Road.”
By Samantha Ofole-Prince / Photo Credit: Sheri Determan / for AAFCA
