L. Scott Caldwell
| L. Scott Caldwell | |
|---|---|
 Caldwell in 2007 |
|
| Born | Laverne Scott April 17, 1950 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Other names | Scotty Caldwell |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1978–present |
Laverne Scott Caldwell (born April 17, 1950) is an American actress known for her role as Rose on Lost.
This Chicago native started her career in 1978 as a member of the famed Negro Ensemble Company, making her Broadway debut two years later in the Tony Award nominated play Home. She has starred in world premier and regional productions across the country, including works by Wole Soyinda, Athol Fugard, Neil Simon, and Regina Taylor. Caldwell earned a degree in Theater Arts and Communications from Loyola University Chicago. She has an extensive background in theater, feature films, and television. Her film credits include Waiting to Exhale, The Net, The Fugitive, Like Dandelion Dust, and Powder Blue. In 2010 Caldwell played the lead role in the short film Lisa Trotter, directed by fellow Chicagoan Hawthorne James. Caldwell had recurring roles on Judging Amy, Lost, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Southland. She has guest-starred in over fifty television series episodes and made for television movies including JAG, Chicago Hope, City of Angels and Promised Land,. Her additional television credits include The Practice, Any Day Now, Murder One, The Pretender, ER, Nip/Tuck, L.A. Law, Ghost Whisperer, Cold Case, Saving Grace, State of Mind, and The Cosby Show. In 2003 she was a cast as a main character, Judge Rose Barnea, in the CBS series Queens Supreme.
On Broadway, Caldwell won a 1988 Tony Award for her portrayal of Bertha Holly in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Her other Broadway credits include Proposals, A Month of Sundays and Home. She has also appeared off Broadway in About Heaven & Earth, Colored People's Time, Old Phantoms, A Season to Unravel, The Imprisonment of Obatala", and "Going To St. Ives.
Her most recent appearances have been in the television series Southland and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and films Powder Blue, Like Dandelion Dust, and Gridiron Gang. Caldwell is most widely known for her portrayal of Rose on Lost. According to the Season 2 DVD featurettes, her husband was suffering health problems during the shooting of the first season, which inspired her character's story in the Rose/Bernard-centric episode, S.O.S..
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Caldwell, the middle child in the family, was born Laverne Scott in Chicago, Illinois to working class parents. She grew up in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. When she was a student in a high enrollment elementary school Caldwell attended the morning session, and her older siblings went to school in the afternoon. When the school released her at noon she was escorted to a neighborhood theater where she was minded by a friend of her mother. It was there that her love of film was born. At that early age she did not realize she wanted to be an actress, but she did know that she wanted to be like Bette Davis or Loretta Young.
While attending Hyde Park High School, Caldwell joined the drama club. Her class went to see a performance of A Day of Absence, featuring Douglas Turner Ward, one of the founders of The Negro Ensemble Company. It was the first time she saw professional black actors on stage.
After graduating from high school in 1967, Caldwell attended Northwestern University. Caldwell left the school after one year and went to work full-time as an operator at Illinois Bell. She got married and had a son. She transferred her credits to Loyola University-Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in Theater Arts and Communications.
[edit] Career
Caldwell planned on a teaching career and taught at Chicago High School of the Performing Arts. She also worked a year for the Chicago Council on Fine Arts as an artist-in-residence. While in Chicago Caldwell performed in local theatrical productions at the Body Politic, Court Theater, and Eleventh Street Theater.
She went to New York in 1978 to audition for Uta Hagen's school HB Studio. While waiting to audition she saw an ad for The Negro Ensemble Company. After her audition at Hagen's school she took the subway to the NEC. Caldwell was initially rebuffed by the person who interviewed her but she insisted on meeting with Mr. Ward. She used the three pieces she performed at her audition for Hagen. She was accepted by both Hagen and Ward.
During her first season at NEC Caldwell performed in several plays. One of those plays, Home, by Samm Art Williams, took her to the Cort Theatre on Broadway in 1980. The play was critically acclaimed and earned a Tony Award nomination for Charles Brown. After Home closed Caldwell worked in several regional theater productions including Boesman and Lena at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and A Raisin In The Sun at Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, New York. She also had small roles in film (Without A Trace), and daytime television (All My Children).
In December 1984, while working in Play of Giants, Caldwell was struck by a car while hailing a cab on Columbus Avenue in New York. She suffered a severe back injury and was unable to work for nearly two years. Her first audition after her recovery was for the August Wilson play Joe Turner's Come and Gone. She did not get the role she wanted. But the role of Bertha Holly was a history maker. Caldwell's performance earned her a 1988 Tony Award. She thanked her mother, siblings, and son during her acceptance speech.
Soon after winning the Tony Caldwell moved to southern California to work in television and film. She is extremely busy, working in several cities in the US, Canada, and South Africa, and continues to work in theater. She returned to Broadway in 1997 as the lead in Neil Simon's Proposals. The play was not very well accepted by audiences but Caldwell's performance was critically acclaimed. After Proposals closed Caldwell performed the role of Leah, Little Augie's sister, in the New York City Center's Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert production of St. Louis Woman. In 2006 Caldwell made her Goodman Theatre debut in Regina Taylor's The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove. In 2011 she took on the monumental lead role of Lena Younger in the Ebony Repertory Theatre production of the Lorraine Hansberry classic A Raisin In The Sun. The play was directed by Phylicia Rashad. Caldwell, along with the entire cast, was nominated for the LA Stage Alliance 2011 Ovation Award for her work in the play. She was also nominated for the LA Drama Critics Circle Awards for lead performance and ensemble performance for her outstanding work as Lena.
Caldwell is an active member of Unite For Strength, the Screen Actors Guild coalition in favor of joining with AFTRA. On September 19, 2008 she won a seat as an alternate on the national board of directors and Hollywood division board of directors. Caldwell was elected to a second one-year term September 24, 2009. She served on the Seniors, Legislative, Women, Holiday Host, Honors and Tributes, and EEOC committees. In September 2010 she was elected to a one-year term on the national board of directors. She served as the national chair of the Women's committee. In 2011 Caldwell is on the SAG national board of directors ballot for a fourth consecutive year. She won a three-year term on the national and Hollywood boards. She will serve as national chair of Women, and Healthcare Safetynet committees.
[edit] Personal life
In her early twenties Laverne Scott married John Caldwell and had son, Ominara. She was divorced in the early 1980s, and was married again in 2004 to artist/photographer/director Dasal Banks. Banks suffered from cancer and died in 2005. He was the six-foot-five black man Caldwell envisioned as her Lost husband, Bernard, before she was informed who would portray him.
Caldwell gives lectures and appears on panels concerning African American actors. In 2007 she participated in tributes to August Wilson at Goodman Theatre in conjunction with Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago, and at St. Louis Black Repertory Company. In June 2008 she participated in the NAACP Theatre Awards Festival Actors on Acting panel. In June 2009 Caldwell moderated a panel of actors, directors, and casting directors discussing African American Images in Hollywood. As moderator she challenged her colleagues to maintain their art. In February 2010 she directed a staged reading of Standing On My Sisters' Shoulders for the Los Angeles chapter of Actors Equity Association.
During the Lost Finale interview with Jo Garfein of JOpinionated, Caldwell stated that she intentionally avoided meeting Sam Anderson, the actor who portrayed her husband Bernard. The scene in Collision when they meet on the beach really was the first time they saw each other. Caldwell also admitted that she does not watch her own work, did not watch Lost regularly, and doesn't have cable service. To catch up on the storyline she checked out the scripts from the Lost library. She was not allowed to leave the scripts in the hotel room and had to take them back to the set.
[edit] Work
[edit] Television
|
|
[edit] Theatre
[edit] Director
|
[edit] Film
[edit] Commercials
[edit] Radio
|
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Awards
- 2006 BTAA Award for Best leading actress in a play – The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove
- 2005 Obie Award for Performance in a play – Going To St. Ives
- 1998 Helen Hayes Award for Supporting actress in a non-resident production – Proposals
- 1997 Drama-Logue Award for Performance in a play – Proposals
- 1990 Drama-Logue Award for Ensemble performance – From The Mississippi Delta
- 1988 Tony Award for Featured actress in a play – Joe Turner's Come & Gone
- Nominations
- 2012 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Lead Performance and Ensemble Performance – A Raisin In The Sun
- 2011 Ovation Award for Best Acting Ensemble in a Play – A Raisin In The Sun
- 2007 Gemini Award (Canadian television) for Best actress in a guest performance – Jozi-H
- 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding actress in a play – Going To St. Ives
- 1998 FANY (FAns of NY Theatre) Award for Outstanding actress in a play – Proposals
[edit] Trivia
- Singing range - Alto (Theater: Home, St. Louis Woman; Television: Any Day Now)
- Zodiac sign - Aries
- Hobbies - Cooking, writing, painting, jazz
- Favorite film - Imitation of Life
- Right-handed
[edit] Quotes
 |
This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process. |
"I didn't say to myself 'I want to be an actress' or anything like that. But I loved film, and I loved what they [Bette Davis & Loretta Young] did." St. Louis Post-Dispatch July 1, 1988
"The first play my mother ever saw I was in." Chicago Tribune November 30, 1997
"I didn't have dance lessons or anything when I was growing up.... I didn't have background in the arts at all. I used to like to pretend when I was a kid, so I would hide in the closet and make up stories and pretend to be other people." Chicago Tribune November 30, 1997
"When you stop acting is when you feel it. On your day off, everything shuts down and you have to start all over again at the next performance.... There is nothing else quite like the high of live theater." The Plain Dealer December 14, 1997
"When you meet somebody that are in the final stages of their life, the other person, or the healthy person, is gonna do all they can to keep you living. The person that's going through it, ...after they have been fighting for so long, you just reach that fork in the road where you can keep going down that path of struggle. Or you can stand where you are, and accept where you are, and accept it as a blessing. And that's a very powerful place to be. It's good to let people know that there is life. There is life. There is life. There is life. That it doesn't stop you from being able to live. And it doesn't stop you from being able to love. And to find the love of your life, at the end of your life is an amazing thing. It's just a gift from God." Lost, Season Two On Location extras dvd, 2006
While working in the Ebony Repertory Theatre production of A Raisin in the Sun Caldwell said she had done the play "...enough times to play every character except Mama. I've played Ruth, and I've even played Travis in a high school production." LA Stage Times March 23, 2011
[edit] Further Reading
- Chicago Defender "Loyola Opens Season With Versatile Seasoned Cast", October 5, 1974 p. A5
- Chicago Defender "Other Cinderella Premieres at Club Misty", August 7, 1975 p. 15
- Kuchwara, Michael St. Louis Post-Dispatch Everyday Magazine "Tony Winner Knew It In Her Heart", July 1, 1988 p. 8F
- Weiss, Hedy Chicago Sun-Times, July 14, 1988 p. 39
- Mitchell, Ophelia DeVore The Columbus Times "Tony Award Winning Actress Puts Her Philosophy of Enriching Others' Lives To Practice" vol. XXVII issue 35, August 28, 1988 p.A1
- Jackson, Caroline Black Masks "L. Scott Caldwell: Laughter in One Hand; The Tony in the Other" vol. 4 issue 9, August 31, 1988 p. 4
- Bogle, Donald Black Arts Annual 1987-1988 1989
- Hay, Samuel A. African American Theatre - An Historical And Critical Analysis, 1994 pgs. 142, 146, 158, 159, 161, 169
- Isherwood, Charles Variety, "Proposals" July 26, 1997
- Flatow, Sheryl Playbill, "Neil Simon Tells Love Stories in Proposals" November 18, 1997
- Kilian, Michael Chicago Tribune, "Serious Simon - Play Has Its Critics, But Its Leading Actresses Find Acclaim" November 30, 1997 Arts & Entertainment p. 10
- Kuchwara, Michael The Plain Dealer "Sweet Role Entices Actress to Simon Play: Maid A Major Role in Proposals", December 14, 1997 Arts section p. 101
- Simon, Neil The Play Goes On: A Memoir, 2002 p. 318
- Oldenburg, Ann USA Today "Love Is No Longer Color-coded On TV", December 20, 2005
- Pietrusiak, Leah Time Out Chicago "5 Minutes With L. Scott Caldwell", June 22–28, 2006
- Woulfe, Molly The Times of Northwest Indiana "Lost Actress Recaps Life on the Island", June 30, 2006
- Lost: The Official Magazine "By The Fire: L. Scott Caldwell & Sam Anderson", Issue #5 July/August 2006 p. 30
- Vaughn, Kenya St. Louis American "Black Rep Goes Beyond August Wilson", March 28, 2007
- Hill, Anthony D. Historical Dictionary of African American Theater, 2009 p. 81
- Cairns, Bryan Lost The Official Magazine "By The Fire: Revolution Resolution", Issue #24 2009 Yearbook Sep/Oct 2009 p. 70
- Donloe, Darlene LA Stage Times "Phylicia Rashad Takes the Direct Approach", March 23, 2011
- McCollester, Maggie Equity News "L. Scott Caldwell Welcomes New Members" vol 96 number 8, October/November 2011, p. 8
[edit] External links
- L. Scott Caldwell at the Internet Broadway Database
- L. Scott Caldwell at the Internet Movie Database
- L. Scott Caldwell at AllRovi
|
||||||||
