Kimberly Elise

Kimberly Elise (birthname: Kimberly Elise Trammel) is a veteran actor who has received praise for a number of performances. Elise’s debut was a co-starring role with Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, and Vivica A. Fox in the crime movie, Set It Off (1996), directed by F. Gary Gray, grossing $41.6 million, over four times $9 million costs.

Elise received rave reviews for her supporting performance in the fine (but commercially failed) film version of Toni Morrison’s literary masterwork, Beloved (1998), directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandiwe Newton, Beah Richards, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Albert Hall, and grossing only $23 million. Elise co-starred opposite Jamie Foxx and David Morse in the commercially disappointing action comedy directed by Antoine Fuqua, Bait (2000), which earned only $15 million against $51 million.

Elise scored another major role with a big star in the Nick Cassavetes-directed drama, John Q. (2002), starring Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, James Woods, Anne Heche, and Ray Liotta and grossing a strong $102 million worldwide. Kimberly Elise’s first feature lead role was in the Michael Schultz-directed adaptation of T.D. Jakes’s Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004), with Loretta Devine, and earning $6.8 million globally.

Elise rejoined co-star Washington and director Demme for a remake of The Manchurian Candidate (2004), co-starring Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, and Bruno Ganz, but failing commercially with a weak $96 million global gross. Elise again starred, this time in a Tyler Perry production, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), with Steve Harris, Cicely Tyson, and Perry, earning ($50.7 million) nearly ten times the costs ($5.5 million). Playing support to stars Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac, Elise next appeared in the sports-themed biopic, Pride (2007), grossing over $7 million.

Elise played Forest Whitaker’s wife, Pearl Farmer, in the true-life drama, The Great Debaters (2007), directed by and co-starring Denzel Washington, with Nate Parker, Jumee Smollett, and John Heard, and gaining a box-office total of over $30 million. Kimberly Elise starred in her second Tyler Perry production with his movie adaptation of the renowned Ntozake Shange choro poem retitled For Colored Girls (2010), co-starring Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandiwe Newton, Kerry Washington, and Whoopi Goldberg, and grossing a mild $38 million on a $21 million budget.

Elise starred in the little-seen drama by writer-director Leila Djansi, Ties That Bind (2011), followed by a major role in writer-director Andrew Meieran’s indie drama, Highland Park (2013), co-starring Danny Glover, Parker Posey, and Billy Burke. Elise was featured in the Sundance hit from writer-director Rick Famuyiwa, Dope (2015), with Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Tyga, ASAP Rocky, and Zoë Kravitz, earning a healthy $18 million globally.

With writer-director David E. Talbert, Kimberly Elise led the ensemble of the family comedy-drama, Almost Christmas (2016), with Mo’Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, Gabrielle Union, Danny Glover, and Omar Epps, grossing a solid $42.6 million worldwide. Another remake in which Elise appeared in a supporting role as director Eli Roth’s widely panned Death Wish (2018), starring Bruce Willis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, and Dean Norris, earning a mild $50 million on a $30 million budget.

Elise was cast by writer-director James Gray in the large cast of his epic sci-fi adventure, Ad Astra (2019), starring and co-produced by Brad Pitt with Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland, and earning a fair $135.4 million globally. Elise co-starred opposite Nicole Ari Parker in writer-director Kim Bass’s comedy, A Snowy Day in Oakland (2023), with Deon Cole, Michael Jai White, Marla Gibbs, Tony Plana, and Keith David.