Kasi Lemmons

Kasi Lemmons
Born
Karen Lemmons

(1959-02-24) February 24, 1959 (age 65)[1]
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, film director, writer
Years active1979–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1995)​
Children4, including Henry Hunter Hall

Kasi Lemmons (/ˈkeɪsi/;[2] born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with Eve's Bayou (1997), followed by Talk to Me (2007), Black Nativity (2013), Harriet (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022).[3] She also directed the Netflix limited series Self Made (2020), and an episode of ABC's Women of the Movement (2022).

She is also known as an actress having started her career with roles in commercials with McDonald's and Levi's. She made her film debut in Spike Lee's School Daze (1988). She continued acting in Vampire's Kiss (1989), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Candyman (1992). She was described by film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon as "an ongoing testament to the creative possibilities of film".[4]

  1. ^ "Kasi Lemmons Biography". AllMovie. Archived from the original on March 9, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  2. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 2, 1997). "Interviews: Kasi Lemmons makes powerful debut as director". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  3. ^ Bergman, Anne (March 4, 2001). "An Affinity for the Road Less Traveled". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  4. ^ Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2007). Film Talk: Directors at Work. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. xii. ISBN 9780813540771. OCLC 71812805.