Regina Taylor

At the age of 12, Taylor moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. The family later returned to Dallas, where she graduated from L. G. Pinkston High School in 1977.[http://www.guidelive.com/feature/335/ "Black History Month: Local legends in music, theater, dance, and more"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010340/http://www.guidelive.com/feature/335/ |date=September 27, 2007 }}, The Dallas Morning News, February 3, 2006

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Her earliest professional acting roles were two made-for-television films while she was studying at Southern Methodist University: 1980's Nurse (1980) and Crisis at Central High (1981). In the latter movie, she was praised by critic John O'Connor of The New York Times for her portrayal of Minnijean Brown, a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who braved violence and armed guards to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957.John O'Connor. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E4DE133BF937A35751C0A967948260 "TV: Little Rock, 1957: 'Crisis at Central High'"], The New York Times (review), February 4, 1981.

Her first role to garner widespread attention was that of Mrs. Carter, the drug-addicted mother of a promising young female student, in the 1989 film Lean on Me. She became well known to the television viewing public for her role as Lilly Harper on the early 1990s TV series I'll Fly Away. This role won her a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Television Drama and also an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. In 2018, Taylor had a role as Dr. Hannah Moshay in season 5 of the highly successful NBC crime thriller series The Blacklist.{{Cite web |last=Harris • |first=Laura |date=2020-02-06 |title=Dallas-Born Actress Regina Taylor Brings Black History to Life on Stage and Screen |url=https://www.nbcdfw.com/discover-black-heritage/black-history-month-dallas-born-actress-regina-taylor/2305425/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth |language=en-US}}

Since then she has had various supporting roles in films, such as the Spike Lee film Clockers, Courage Under Fire, A Family Thing, The Negotiator, and for the films Losing Isaiah and Strange Justice — a Showtime original film in which she portrayed Anita Hill — and as the lead in the PBS telefilm Cora Unashamed, based on a Langston Hughes short story. She was a cast member for all four seasons of the CBS drama The Unit.

Taylor is also an accomplished stage actress, and was the first black woman to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. Her other Broadway credits include Macbeth and As You Like It. She appeared in Off-Broadway and regional productions of such plays as Jar the Floor (Off-Broadway, 1999),McGrath, Sean and Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/second-stages-jar-the-floor-to-open-on-aug.-16-83606# "Second Stage's Jar the Floor to Open on Aug. 16"], playbill.com, August 13, 1999. Machinal (Off-Broadway, 1990), L'Illusion (Off-Broadway, 1988),[http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=Regina&last=Taylor&middle= "Regina Taylor Off-Broadway listing"] lortel.org, accessed August 6, 2015 and A Map of the World (Off-Broadway, Public Theatre). She appeared as "Ariel" in The Tempest at the La Jolla Playhouse, California in 1987, for which she received a Dramalogue Award.Drake, Sylvie. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-15-ca-8045-story.html "Woodruff Staging At La Jolla: Tracking An Erratic 'Tempest'"], Los Angeles Times, September 15, 1987.

In 2016, Taylor starred in the original pilot of Time After Time as Vanessa Anders, but was replaced by Nicole Ari Parker before the series aired, containing a new pilot with Parker.{{cite web|url=http://tvline.com/2016/06/22/time-after-time-recast-nicole-ari-parker-replaces-regina-taylor/|title=ABC's Time After Time Drama Recast: Nicole Ari Parker In, Regina Taylor Out|first=Matt Webb|last=Mitovich|date=June 22, 2016|work=TVLine|access-date=August 26, 2016}}

As of 2022, Taylor is currently the writer-in-residence at the Signature Theatre, where her play stop. reset. premiered at the off-Broadway Pershing Square Signature Center on September 8, 2013. Taylor also directed the production.[http://www.signaturetheatre.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=2379 "stop. reset." listing], signaturetheatre.org. Accessed September 10, 2022.Purcell, Carey. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/world-premiere-of-regina-taylors-stop.-reset.-opens-sept.-8-at-signature-th-209231# World Premiere of Regina Taylor's 'stop. reset.' Opens Sept. 8 at Signature Theatre"], playbill.com, September 8, 2013.

She wrote Escape from Paradise, a one-woman show which was produced at the Goodman Theatre Studio, Chicago, in October 1995. Her short plays Watermelon Rinds and Inside the Belly of the Beast were incorporated into a program at the Goodman Theatre Studio in 1994.Christiansen, Richard. {{"'}}Escape from Paradise' A Surreal Trip", Chicago Tribune, October 31, 1995. She wrote and appeared in the play Millennium Mambo, a one-woman work, presented at the Goodman Theatre in February 2000.Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/regina-taylors-mambo-opens-at-chicagos-goodman-feb.-14-87121# "Regina Taylor's 'Mambo' Opens at Chicago's Goodman, Feb. 14"], playbill.com, February 14, 2000. She wrote the play A Night in Tunisia, which premiered during the 2000 Alabama Shakespeare Festival.Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/taylors-night-in-tunisia-begins-preem-run-may-23-at-alabama-shakes-89416# "Taylor's 'Night in Tunisia' Begins Preem Run May 23 at Alabama Shakes"], playbill.com, May 23, 2000.

In 2000, Taylor won a best new play award from the American Critics' Association for Oo-Bla-Dee, a play about 1940s female jazz musicians. The Goodman Theatre produced the play in 1999.Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/american-theatre-crix-honor-regina-taylors-oo-bla-dee-with-top-prize-88215# "American Theatre Crix Honor Regina Taylor's Oo-Bla-Dee With Top Prize"], playbill.com, April 2, 2000.

She wrote and directed Crowns, which is a co-production of the McCarter Theatre, where it premiered in October 2002[http://www.mccarter.org/education/crowns/crownsstudyguide.html " 'Crown' Study Guide"], mccarter.org, accessed August 8, 2015. and the Second Stage Theatre, produced in December 2002. Crowns is described by Playbill as a "play-with-gospel-music", and is based on the book of the same name of photographs by Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Marberry.Hernandez, Ernio. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/regina-taylors-crowns-opens-second-stage-season-off-broadway-dec.-3-109969# "Regina Taylor's 'Crowns' Opens Second Stage Season Off-Broadway, Dec. 3"], playbill.com, December 3, 2002. Crowns has been produced in various locations, including the Meroney Theater in Salisbury, North Carolina with The Piedmont Players[http://www.piedmontplayers.com/ The Piedmont Players] in May 2009; the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas in September 2004, the Pasadena Playhouse in co-production with Ebony Repertory Theatre in July 2009; Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, New York; at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre in Storrs, Connecticut in May 2009 and at the Electric City Playhouse in Anderson, South Carolina in May 2011. Crowns was the most performed musical in the country in 2006. It won four Helen Hayes Awards (for Washington, D.C. productions), including Taylor's win for Best Direction as well as Best Regional Musical.[http://www.goodmantheatre.org/Artists-Archive/collective/ "Listing, Regina Taylor"], goodmantheatre.org, accessed August 6, 2015.Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/d.c.-theatres-helen-hayes-awards-honor-ludwigs-hollywood-crowns-drawer-boy-119629# "D.C. Theatre's Helen Hayes Awards Honor Ludwig's Hollywood, 'Crowns', 'Drawer Boy{{'"}}], playbill.com, May 11, 2004.

She wrote and directed an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull titled Drowning Crow. Drowning Crow was produced on Broadway in February 2004 by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the Biltmore Theatre, directed by Marion McClinton.Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/regina-taylor-gives-chekhov-new-wings-with-drowning-crow-opening-feb.-19-118002# "Regina Taylor Gives Chekhov New Wings With 'Drowning Crow', Opening Feb. 19"], playbill.com, February 19, 2004.[http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/1524/Drowning-Crow " 'Drowning Crow' Broadway Listing"], playbillvault.com, accessed August 6, 2015.

She wrote and directed The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, a dramatic rendering of the financial gains and emotional losses of African-American businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker, which received its world premiere production in January 2005 at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/regina-taylors-new-play-sarah-breedlove-premieres-at-alabama-shakespeare-fe-119619# "Regina Taylor's New Play, 'Sarah Breedlove', Premieres at Alabama Shakespeare Fest in 2005"], playbill.com, May 10, 2004.

Taylor's play Magnolia, set during the beginning of desegregation in Atlanta in 1963, premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in March 2009 directed by Anna Shapiro.[http://www.goodmantheatre.org/season/0809/magnolia/ {{"'}}Magnolia' Listing, Goodman Theatre"], goodmantheatre.org, accessed August 6, 2015Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/magnolia-regina-taylors-civil-rights-era-story-begins-world-premiere-in-chi-158972# {{"'}}Magnolia', Regina Taylor's Civil Rights-Era Story, Begins World Premiere in Chicago March 14"]. playbill.com, March 14, 2009. after receiving a workshop production in July 2008 at the National Playwrights' Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.[http://www.oneilltheatercenter.org/prog/plays/playprog.htm listing of productions by year and by program]. oneilltheatercenter.org.Hetrick, Adam. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/oneill-centers-national-playwrights-conference-begins-july-3-151374# "O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference Begins July 3"], playbill.com, July 3, 2008.

Taylor returned to the Goodman Theatre in January and February 2011 for the world premiere of her new play entitled The Trinity River Plays, a co-production with Dallas Theater Center, directed by Ethan McSweeny. The production is a trilogy composed of Jar Fly, Rain, and Ghoststory.Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/140153-Taylors-Trinity-River-Plays-Added-to-Goodman-Slate-in-2011-Abbey-and-Teatro-Vista-Shows-Announced "Taylor's 'Trinity River' Plays Added to Goodman Slate in 2011; Abbey and Teatro Vista Shows Announced"], playbill.com, June 7, 2010.

Taylor's 2017 play A Seat at the Table was commissioned by Carthage College's Theatre Department, the ninth play commissioned as part of their New Play Initiative. The play tells the story of the life of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. The production was invited to the 2018 region 3 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.{{cite web | url=https://www.carthage.edu/arts/experience-the-arts/theatre-dance-performances/new-play-initiative/ | title=New Play Initiative }}

According to a DNA analysis, she is descended, mainly, from the Mende people of Sierra Leone and the Kru people of Liberia.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMY6RS-v4ig Regina Taylor Ancestry Reveal]. YouTube Taylor is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

In 1982, she married artist Mario Emes.[https://www.marioemes.com/about.html Mario Emes]

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• {{IMDb name|id=0853040|name=Regina Taylor}}
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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312103136/http://www.americantheatrewing.org/seminars/detail/new_plays_and_playwrights_01_04/ New Plays And Playwrights] - Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.org, January 2004
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130512163953/http://americantheatrewing.org/biography/detail/regina_taylor Regina Taylor bio at the American Theatre Wing website (2003)]

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Category:1960 births

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (television) winners

Category:Living people

Category:Actresses from Dallas

Category:Actresses from Oklahoma

Category:Writers from Muskogee, Oklahoma

Category:African-American dramatists and playwrights

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Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:21st-century African-American actresses

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