Tonya Pinkins

Tonya Pinkins

1962-05-30 Chicago, Illinois, USA 25 Credits

Biography

Tonya Pinkins was born in Chicago, Illinois. She has four children. Her father was a police officer and insurance salesman and her mother is a former postal worker. She has two brothers, Eric Swoope and Thomas Swoope and a sister Tamera Swoope from whom she is estranged. She was interested in the arts from a young age. In high school, she studied acting at the Goodman Theatre Young People's Program. Aged 18, she briefly attended college and decided to pursue an acting career instead. She ...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide

The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide

2025

as Horror Film Expert

Acting

Why do people no longer see this type of stories nowadays? How can this notion be awakened? Which films should begin to feed back from the past and ba...

The Life of Peter Gottlieb

The Life of Peter Gottlieb

2024

as Dean Fendleman

Acting

As community college professor Peter Gottlieb's life spirals out of control, a strange friendship blossoms with one of his students, Sabrina Carbonowi...

The Surrogate

The Surrogate

2021

as Karen Weatherston-Harris

4.8
Acting

Jess is thrilled to be the surrogate for her best friend and his husband, but when a prenatal test comes back, it creates a moral dilemma that threate...

Red Pill

Red Pill

2021

as Cassandra

6.0
Acting

Set over Halloween weekend 2020, this political thriller follows six friends as they head into "red" country to canvas white women to vote. They are a...

The School for Wives

The School for Wives

2020

as Arnolphe

2.0
Acting

The School For Wives, at its core, is about gender power dynamics. We are looking forward to telling this classic 17th century French tale through the...

The Artist's Wife

The Artist's Wife

2020

as Liza Caldwell

5.6
Acting

Claire Smythson, wife of the renowned abstract artist Richard Smythson, is plunged into a late-life crisis when her husband is diagnosed with Alzheime...

Mr. Talented

Mr. Talented

2018

as Valerie Brown

Acting

Inspired by a true story, Mr. Talented follows a space-obsessed photographer whose life and sanity unravels as he struggles to make a name for himself...

Aardvark

Aardvark

2018

as Abigail

4.8
Acting

The aardvark has evolved to be one of a kind. You could say the same of Josh Norman.

My Days of Mercy

My Days of Mercy

2018

as Agatha

7.3
Acting

The daughter of a man on death row falls in love with a woman on the opposing side of her family's political cause.

The Book of Henry

The Book of Henry

2017

as Principal Wilder

7.5
Acting

Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances ...

An Act of Terror

An Act of Terror

2017

as Mary Church Terrell

Acting

The true story of Virginia Christian, a 16-year-old African American girl accused of murder in the Jim Crow South.

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...

2016

as Self

7.5
Acting

This film from acclaimed theater director Lonny Price charts the journey of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" in the 30-...

Collective: Unconscious

Collective: Unconscious

2016

as Ripa the Reaper

6.2
Acting

A man and his grandmother hide out from an ominous broadcast. The Grim Reaper hosts a TV show. The formerly incarcerated recount and reinterpret their...

Everybody Dies!

Everybody Dies!

2016

as Ripa the Reaper

5.0
Acting

In this recreated public access television show, Ripa the Grim Reaper teaches black kids about the day they'll die.

Rasheeda Speaking

Rasheeda Speaking

2015

as Jaclyn

Acting

This tense workplace thriller examines the realities of so-called “post-racial” America. Co-workers are driven apart by the machinations of their boss...

Home

Home

2013

as Esmin

6.6
Acting

The story of a man suffering from mental illness who attempts to rebuild his life.

Newlyweeds

Newlyweeds

2013

as Patrice

4.0
Acting

A match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry when Lyle can't decide which matters most, Nina or Mary Jane.

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

2008

as Mrs. Robinson

6.2
Acting

As Noah and Wade prepare to marry in Martha's Vineyard, the personal problems of their friends - and the unexpected arrival of rapper Baby Gat - threa...

Enchanted

Enchanted

2007

as Phoebe Banks

6.8
Acting

The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the str...

Romance & Cigarettes

Romance & Cigarettes

2005

as Female Medic

6.0
Acting

Ironworker Nick lives with his wife, Kitty, and three daughters. When he meets a significantly younger woman, Tula, he starts an affair with her, much...

Against Their Will

Against Their Will

1994

as Sondra

5.5
Acting

Behind prison walls, corruption, sex and power make criminals out of the guards and heroes out of the guarded. For more than a decade, the lawless gua...

Above the Rim

Above the Rim

1994

as Mailika

7.0
Acting

Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fal...

Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway

Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway

1992

as Herself

8.0
Acting

A behind the scenes look at the Broadway production of Jelly's Last Jam, including a tribute to jazz musician and composer Jelly Roll Morton. Gregory ...

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

1989

as Leslie

6.7
Acting

A murder takes place in the shop of David Lyons, a deaf man who fails to hear the gunshot being fired. Outside, blind man Wally Karue hears the shot, ...

American Dream

American Dream

1981

Acting

A family moves from an affluent Chicago suburb to the mixed inner-city neighborhood where the father grew up, with the idea of giving the kids, who ar...