Claim: Alfre Woodard acts.

Alfre Woodard -LRB- born November 8 , 1952 -RRB- is an American film , stage , and television actress , producer , and political activist . Woodard has been named one of the most versatile and accomplished actors of her generation . She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Award , 18 times for an Emmy Award -LRB- winning four -RRB- , and has also won a Golden Globe Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards .   Woodard began her acting career in theater . After her breakthrough role in the Off-Broadway play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf -LRB- 1977 -RRB- , she made her film debut in Remember My Name -LRB- 1978 -RRB- . In 1983 , she won major critical praise and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Cross Creek . In the same year , Woodard won her first Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the NBC drama series Hill Street Blues . Later in the 1980s , Woodard had leading Emmy Award-nominated performances in a number of made for television movies , and another Emmy-winning role as a woman dying of leukemia in the pilot episode of L.A. Law . She also starred as Dr. Roxanne Turner in the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere , for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1986 , and for Guest Actress in 1988 .   In the 1990s , Woodard starred in films such as Grand Canyon -LRB- 1991 -RRB- , Heart and Souls -LRB- 1993 -RRB- , Crooklyn -LRB- 1994 -RRB- , How to Make an American Quilt -LRB- 1995 -RRB- , Primal Fear -LRB- 1996 -RRB- and Star Trek : First Contact -LRB- 1996 -RRB- . She also drew critical praise for her performances in the independent dramas Passion Fish -LRB- 1992 -RRB- , for which she won an Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress , as well as Down in the Delta -LRB- 1998 -RRB- . For her lead role in the HBO film Miss Evers ' Boys -LRB- 1997 -RRB- , Woodard won Golden Globe , Emmy , Screen Actors Guild Awards , and several another awards . In later years she has appeared in several blockbusters , like K-PAX -LRB- 2001 -RRB- , The Core -LRB- 2003 -RRB- , and The Forgotten -LRB- 2004 -RRB- , starred in independent films , and won her fourth Emmy Award for The Practice in 2003 . From 2005 to 2006 , Woodard starred as Betty Applewhite in the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives , and later starred in several short-lived series . She appeared in the films The Family That Preys -LRB- 2008 -RRB- , 12 Years a Slave -LRB- 2013 -RRB- and Annabelle -LRB- 2014 -RRB- , and has also worked as a political activist and producer . Woodard is a founder of Artists for a New South Africa , an organization devoted to advancing democracy and equality in that country . She is a board member of AMPAS .