Loretta Devine

Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949)[1] is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles as Marla Hendricks in the Foxdrama series Boston Public, and for her recurring role as Adele Webber on the Shonda Rhimes' Grey's Anatomy, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011. She had a role in the series Everybody Hates Chris as Rochelle's mother. In film, Devine appeared in Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher's Wife, Hoodlum, I Am Sam, Urban Legend, What Women Want, Kingdom Come, Crash, Woman Thou Art Loosed, For Colored Girls, This Christmas, First Sunday, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Jumping the Broom.[2] She also played Cynthia Carmichael on the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show.[3][4]

Early life
Devine was born in Houston, Texas. Her mother, Eunice O'Neal (née Toliver), was a beautician, and her father, James Devine, worked as a laborer.[1] She grew up in the Acres Homes area of Houston, where her mother was a single mother to six children.[5] She was very active on the pep squad, and performed in talent shows at George Washington Carver High School.[6]

In 1971, Devine graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Drama.[6] In 1976, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Theater from Brandeis University.[7]

Devine was initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha the Epsilon Lambda Chapter.

Broadway
Devine has worked extensively on Broadway. She appeared in the 1978 musical A Broadway Musical, which closed after one performance. Her first Broadway show was called Comin' Uptown, and featured Gregory Hines.[2]

She captured attention in the 1995 Apollo Revival of The Wiz as Glinda The Good Witch of the South and shortly after, acted in Dreamgirls, a Broadway musical loosely based on the history of The Supremes, in which she originated the role of Lorrell Robinson (a fictional character based on Mary Wilson). The story of Dreamgirls was created during workshops that were carried out in six-week workshops over the period of three years, which Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Jennifer Holliday developed via improv.[2]

Film
While rehearsing for Dreamgirls with a little girl in 1981, Devine was cast in Jessie Maple's Will, the first independent feature-length film directed by an African-American woman.[8] For her featured role in the low-budget film, Devine earned $500.[8]

Minor roles for Devine followed in films such as Little Nikita and Stanley & Iris. She has a cameo performance in the film version of Dreamgirls.

In 1995, she landed a major role as Gloria Matthews in Waiting to Exhale, opposite Whitney Houston, Gregory Hines, and Angela Bassett. The role earned her an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, as did her next movie, The Preacher's Wife, her second movie with Houston and Hines. She later co-starred opposite Alfre Woodard in Down in the Delta (1998) and Funny Valentines (1999).

Television
She was a repertory character in the play The Colored Museum with Vickilyn Reynolds. Devine and Reynolds both went on to play sisters in the short-lived TV series Sugar and Spice. During the period between the play and the series, Devine appeared in the first season of the TV series A Different World as Stevie Rollins, dormitory director at fictional Hillman College.

From 2000 to 2004, Devine starred as high school teacher Marla Hendricks on the Fox drama series Boston Public. Devine won three more Image Awards for her work in the series. She also continued to work in film, playing prominent roles in Urban Legend, Urban Legends: Final Cut, and I Am Sam. Devine earned yet another Image Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Awardnomination for her work in the 2004 film Woman Thou Art Loosed. She also appeared in the 2005 film Crash. In 2007, she appeared in This Christmas, and in the next year had a series regular role on the ABC comedy-drama Eli Stone. Devine also was part of the ensemble casts of two Tyler Perry-directed films For Colored Girls and Madea's Big Happy Family.

Devine had a recurring role in the Shonda Rhimes drama series Grey's Anatomyas Dr. Richard Webber's wife, Adele.[9] In 2011 she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performance. She was nominated for a second time for her performance in 2012.[10] Devine also won Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Feature Role for Grey's Anatomy in 2012.[11] In 2011, she also starred on the short-lived ABC Family comedy State of Georgia. In 2012, she was part of Being Mary Jane cast. She also played Hallie, a nurse, on Playhouse Disney's Doc McStuffins. Later that year she began starring in the Lifetime series The Client List, playing the role of Georgia Cummings, the owner of the massage parlor where the lead character Riley Parks works. The series was cancelled after two seasons.[12]