Salli Richardson began her professional acting career in the theater at the Kuumba Workshop in Chicago and eventually moved to Los Angeles where she landed numerous guest roles on series such as "Silk Stalkings," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "New York Undercover," "The Jamie Fox Show" and "Stargate SG-1." Richardson spent three seasons as the voice of Elisa Maza on Disney's animated series "Gargoyles." before graduating to roles in feature films, particulary worjking with minority directors, including Mario Van Peebles' "Posse" (1993), Lou Diamond Phillips' directorial debut film "Souix City" (1994)--which won the Gold Medal at the Houston Film Festival-Keenan Ivory Wayans' "A Low Down Dirty Shame" (1994), Tim Reid's "Once Upon a Time.When We Were Colored" (1995), HBO's "Soul Of The Game" (1996) and Reginald Hudlin's "The Great White Hype" opposite Samuel L. Jackson. She also held regular or recurring roles on numerous television shows including Showtime's "Rude Awakenings," UPN's "Mercy Point" and CBS's "Family Law." She snared her highest profile role to date playing the role of Berta for director Denzel Washington in "Antwone Fisher" (2002). Next Richardson--by that point married to actor Dondre Whitfield and billed as Salli Richardson-Whitfield--appeared in "Biker Boyz" (2003), opposite her "Fisher" co-star Derek Luke, Laurence Fishburne and Kid Rock, followed by the horror-thriller "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (2004). In between those fetaure films she landed a recurring role as Erica Logan on the CBS crime procedural "CSI: Miami" beginning in 2003.
- Also Credited As:
Salli Elise Richardson, Salli Richardson, Salli Richardson Whitfield
- Born:
November 23, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
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Job Titles:
Actor, Singer
Family
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Daughter: Parker Richardson Whitfield. Father is Dondre Whitfield
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Father: Duel Richardson. Italian and Irish descent; works as the director of Neighborhood Relations/Educational Programs and Office of Community Affairs for the University of Chicago
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Mother: Marcia Harris. African-American; also of partial herokee descent
Significant Others
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Companion: Matthew McConaughey.
Milestones
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1991 Cast in the feature drama Up Against The Wall
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1993 Co-starred in the romantic comedy How U Like Me Now
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1993 Portrayed Lana in the black western Posse
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1994 Co-starred in the Keenan Ivory Wayan s Low Down Dirty Shame
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1994 Voiced the character Elisa Maza in the animated series Gargoyles ; also voiced Maza for the series of Gargoyles videos that were released from 1994-1998
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1995 Was Miss Sally in Once Upon A Time...When We Were Colored
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1996 Co-starred in the boxing comedy feature Great White Hype
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1997 Cast in the feature True Women
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1998 Co-starred in the indepedent thriller Butter
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1999 Played Viveca Foster on the CBS television drama Family Law
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2002 Potrayed Berta in Denzel Washington s directorial debut feature Antwone Fisher
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2003 Co-starred in the action feature Biker Boyz
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2004 Starred in the thriller Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
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2006 Cast as Department of Defense agent (and later head of Global Dynamics) Allison Blake in the Sci-fi series Eureka
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2007 Had a supporting role as Will Smith s wife in I Am Legend
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Performed with the Chicago Children s Choir