Michael Michele

Michael Michele Williams was born in Evansville, Indiana, the elder of two daughters. Her white father, Jerry, is a furniture-rental entrepreneur and her African American mother, Theresa, was employed by Bristol-Myers.{{cite news|author1=Susan Schindehette |author2=Sue Carswell |author3=Vicki Sheff |title=Pink-Slipped by Eddie Murphy, Michael Michele Vows Their Only Date Will Be in Court|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20120404,00.html|access-date=April 30, 2014|newspaper=People|date=May 29, 1989|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603103543/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20120404,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 3, 2009}} She was named for her mother's best friend, Michael Ann. Michele attended Howard Roosa Elementary School (a K-8 school at the time) and Benjamin Bosse High School, where she was active on the basketball team.{{cite news|last=Lipton|first=Michael A.|title=All the Right Moves|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20130931,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208181041/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20130931,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 8, 2015|access-date=April 30, 2014|newspaper=People|date=April 10, 2000}}

Michele has appeared in music videos by R&B singers Freddie Jackson and Eric Gable. In 1989 she sued actor Eddie Murphy in a high-profile Hollywood lawsuit alleging she was fired from the movie Harlem Nights for rejecting his romantic advances. "She had the role that's now being played by Jasmine Guy, from A Different World," Murphy told Rolling Stone. "The fact of the matter is, I wanted someone with greater marquee value than Michael Michele. She wasn't working out. As for her claim that I was touching her, realistically speaking, if you're gonna be a sleaze and try to sleep with somebody, you try to sleep with 'em before you give 'em the part… In her lawsuit, she says I tried to touch her, like I was a pervert. I never tried to touch this woman. We had, like, four conversations, each time with up to sixty people around us on a sound stage. But the lawsuit itself didn't bother me. Lawsuits for me are an occupational hazard."{{cite web|last=Zehme |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Zehme |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/call-him-money-eddie-murphy-opens-up-19890824 |title=Eddie Murphy: Call Him Money |publisher=Rolling Stone |date=1989-08-24 |access-date=2016-05-30}} Michele's suit was later settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.{{cite news |last=Kinetic Koncepts |date=April 7, 2017 |title="New Jack City" ACTRESS Revealed Why She Filed $75M LAWSUIT Against Eddie Murphy |url=http://www.iloveoldschoolmusic.com/new-jack-city-actress-revealed-why-she-filed-70m-lawsuit-against-eddie-murphy/ |work=Old School Music |location=Kenner, LA}}

In 1991, Michele had a starring role opposite Wesley Snipes in the 1991 film New Jack City directed by Mario Van Peebles.{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/new_jack_city/|title=New Jack City|website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=29 November 2017}} Despite the film's success, Michele did not have her next movie role until six years later, starring opposite Marlon Wayans in the comedy film The 6th Man. In 1992, she went on to star on the CBS late-night crime drama series Dangerous Curves, which ran for two seasons.{{cite web|url=https://www.tribute.ca/people/michael-michele/8320/|title=Michael Michele biography and filmography - Michael Michele movies|website=Tribute.ca|access-date=29 November 2017}}{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1992/05/01/dangerous-curves/|title=Dangerous Curves|magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=29 November 2017}} In 1993, she played a leading role in the six-part NBC soap opera miniseries Trade Winds.{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/trade-winds/cast/205127/|title=Trade Winds|website=TVGuide.com|access-date=29 November 2017}} The following year, she had a major recurring role in the Fox police drama series New York Undercover. She left the show in early 1995 to play one of the leads in the CBS prime time soap opera Central Park West alongside Mädchen Amick, Lauren Hutton and Raquel Welch.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/central-park-west-1200443005/|title=Central Park West|first=Carole|last=Horst|date=11 September 1995|access-date=29 November 2017}} The series was not successful and was cancelled after two seasons in 1996.

In 1998, Michele joined the cast of NBC police drama Homicide: Life on the Street as Det. Rene Sheppard on the show's final season.{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1999/02/19/michael-michele-homicide/|title=Shooting From The Lip|magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=29 November 2017}} She received her first NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series nomination for this role. Michele reprised her role in a Law & Order episode in 1999 and in the television movie Homicide: The Movie in 2000. She later joined another NBC series, medical drama ER playing Dr. Cleo Finch from 1999 to 2002, for three seasons. She received another NAACP Image Award nomination.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

In 2001, Michele played Veronica Porché Ali in the biographical drama film Ali opposite Will Smith.{{cn|date=December 2023}} She later had two more movie roles: crime drama Dark Blue (2002) and romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003). She returned to television in 2004, with a starring role in the short-lived UPN legal drama series Kevin Hill opposite Taye Diggs. In 2007, she guest starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and in two episodes of House as a doctor who had previously worked with the CIA. In 2009, Michele starred in the Hallmark Channel film {{interlanguage link|Relative Stranger|fr|Une si longue absence}} with fellow ER cast member Eriq La Salle. In 2011, Michele had a recurring role on the CW teen drama Gossip Girl. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Michele also starred in a number of unsold television pilots.

In 2017, Michele returned to series regular work playing villainous Ayanna Floyd, president of the record label, in the Fox prime time soap opera Star. Her character was described as a modern-day black Alexis Carrington.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2017/08/star-michael-michele-cast-series-regular-season-2-fox-series-1202148835/|title=Star: Michael Michele Cast as Series Regular in Season 2 of Fox Series|first=Denise|last=Petski|date=14 August 2017|access-date=29 November 2017}} She also was cast in a recurring role in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Queen Sugar.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/queen-sugar-renewed-season-3-ava-duvernay-oprah-winfrey-1202506864/|title=Queen Sugar Renewed for Season 3, Ava DuVernay Inks First-Look TV Deal With Harpo Films|first=Joe|last=Otterson|date=26 July 2017|access-date=29 November 2017}}

On March 22, 2019, it was announced that Michele had been cast as Dominique Deveraux for later in the second season of the Dynasty reboot series.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dynasty-adds-fan-favorite-character-help-offset-departures-1196465|title=Dynasty Adds Fan-Favorite Character to Help Offset Departures|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Rick|last=Porter|date=March 22, 2019|access-date=March 22, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2019/03/michael-michele-dominique-deveraux-in-cws-dynasty-1202580813/|title=Michael Michele To Play Dominique Deveraux In CW's Dynasty|website=Deadline Hollywood|first=Denise|last=Petski|date=March 22, 2019|access-date=March 22, 2019}}

She has a son, born in 2004.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2011/12/actress-michael-michele-adds-fashion-designer-to-her-resume-149071/|title=Actress Michael Michele Adds Fashion Designer To Her Resume|first=Cynthia|last=Reid|date=26 December 2011|access-date=4 June 2016}}

In 2005, TV Guide ranked Michele No. 36 on its "50 Sexiest Stars of All Time" list.{{cite book|title=TV Guide Book of Lists|url=https://archive.org/details/tvguidebookoflis0000unse|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=Running Press|isbn=978-0-7624-3007-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tvguidebookoflis0000unse/page/202 202]}} In 2012, she was named one of the "50 Hottest Biracial Women" by Complex Magazine.{{cite web|title=The 50 Hottest Biracial Women|url=http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/06/the-50-hottest-biracial-women/michael-michele|work=Complex Magazine|access-date=April 30, 2014}}

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Category:African-American fashion designers

Category:American fashion designers

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from Indiana

Category:Living people

Category:Actors from Evansville, Indiana

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:20th-century African-American actresses

Category:21st-century African-American actresses

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)