Biography
Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor (/ˈɑːnʒənuː/; née Ellis; born February 21, 1969) is an American actress. She has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. She has appeared in numerous films, including Men of Honor (2000), Undercover Brother (2002), Ray (2004), Freedomland (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), The Help (2011), The Birth of a Nation (2016), and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). She was nominated for t...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Nickel Boys
2024
as Hattie
Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.

Exhibiting Forgiveness
2024
as Joyce
A Black artist on the path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, a recovering addict desperate to reconcile. Togeth...

The Deliverance
2024
as Rev Bernice James
Ebony Jackson, a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons, moves her family into a new home for a fresh start. But when strange occurrenc...

The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
2024
as Odette Henry
Three lifelong best friends known as “The Supremes” share the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood from decades of weathering life’s storms. Through the jo...

Grace
2024
Executive Producer
A 1950s Southern teen questions her faith and sexuality on the eve of her baptism when urged to repent her feelings for her best friend.

The Color Purple
2023
as Mama
A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately find...

Origin
2023
as Isabel Wilkerson
While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the b...

Origin
2023
Executive Producer
While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the b...

King Richard
2021
as Oracene 'Brandy' Price
The story of how Richard Williams served as a coach to his daughters Venus and Serena, who will soon become two of the most legendary tennis players i...

The Subject
2021
as Leslie
A successful white documentarian deals with the fallout from his last film, which caught the murder of a Black teen on tape. While he films a new doc ...

The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel
2020
as Mattie Moss Clark
With guidance from their mother, five siblings overcome humble beginnings to form the renowned gospel group the Clark Sisters.

Miss Virginia
2019
as Lorraine Townsend
A struggling inner-city mother sacrifices everything to give her son a good education. Unwilling to allow her son to stay in a dangerous school, she l...

If Beale Street Could Talk
2018
as Mrs. Hunt
After her fiance is falsely imprisoned, a pregnant African-American woman sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence.

Pimp
2018
as Gloria May
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he'...

Romeo and Juliet in Harlem
2017
as Lady Capulet
The first Shakespeare feature film adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" with a complete cast of color that stays true to the language and storyline.

The Birth of a Nation
2016
as Nancy Turner
Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation...

Of Mind and Music
2014
as Una Vida
Dr. Alvaro Cruz, a neuroscientist, disillusioned by the death of his mother and his inability to help her, finds redemption and reward by helping Una ...

Get on Up
2014
as Vicki Anderson
A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.

The Volunteer
2013
as Leigh
After quitting her stable but soul-crushing job, Leigh passes her days in an apathetic fog until she decides to volunteer at a soup kitchen. There she...

Abducted: The Carlina White Story
2012
as Ann
A baby abducted at birth and raised by the woman who took her, eventually discovers she is a missing child, reconnects with her birth parents, and str...

Money Matters
2011
as Pamela Matters
A moving and intimate film that follows Monique "Money" Matters (Terri Abney) caught at the brink of adolescence. Her relationship with her mother Pam...

The Help
2011
as Yule Mae Davis
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson ...

Game of Death
2011
as Rachel
CIA agent Marcus is sent undercover to Detroit to take out an arms dealer and the head of the hedge fund that is financing him. His CIA backup has oth...

The Resident
2011
as Sydney
Juliet, a beautiful doctor, has found the perfect New York apartment to start a new life after separating from her husband. It's got spacious rooms, a...

The Tested
2011
as Darraylynn Warren
A life shattering tragedy sends three people on vastly different paths to a similar goal of redemption and understanding.

I Love You Phillip Morris
2010
as Reba
Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force...

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
2009
as Therese Garber
Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatche...

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
2009
as Candy
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987.

The Hungry Ghosts
2009
as Nadia
A New York City-set drama of interlocking stories which occur over a 36-hour period.

Motherhood
2009
as Sample Sale Friend
In Manhattan, a mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party has no idea of the challenges she's about to face in order to pull off...

Notorious
2009
as Sandy
"Notorious" is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (...

The Express
2008
as Marie Davis
Follow the inspirational life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
The Prince of Motor City
2008
as Cora Neel
A modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in Detroit.

Racing for Time
2008
as Officer Baker
Cleveland 'Stack' Stackhouse is a guard with the Texas Correctional Youth Authority who witnesses the cycle of destructive choices and racial tensions...

Cover
2007
as Valerie Mass
When someone is murdered on New Year's Eve, the prime suspect is Valerie Maas, a church-going home-maker whose life unravels when she discovers that h...

Freedomland
2006
as Felicia
A black police detective must solve a strange case of a kidnapped boy and deal with a big racial protest.

Perception
2005
as Vera
When Jen Marshall, an LA girl with a reckless personality and a laundry list of burned bridges, returns to New York and unexpected tragedy strikes, it...

Ray
2004
as Mary Ann Fisher
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make h...

Brother to Brother
2004
as Zora
A drama that looks back on the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of an elderly, black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York homeless she...

Lovely & Amazing
2002
as Lorraine
An intimate family portrait of four hapless but resilient women and the bittersweet lessons they learn in keeping up with the hectic demands of their ...

Undercover Brother
2002
as Sistah Girl
An Afro-American organization, the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., is in permanent fight against a white organization "The Man" defending the values of the bl...

John John in the Sky
2001
as Earlene
A young boy sets out to build a working airplane in order to allow him to escape with his mother from his abusive father.

The Caveman's Valentine
2001
as Lulu
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tr...

Disappearing Acts
2000
as Pam
A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.

The Opponent
2000
Patty Sullivan is a battered woman who decides to take charge of her life by taking boxing lessons to better protect herself when her boyfriend become...

Men of Honor
2000
as Jo
Against formidable odds -- and an old-school diving instructor embittered by the U.S. Navy's new, less prejudicial policies -- Carl Brashear sets his ...

A Map of the World
1999
as Dyshett
School nurse Alice Goodwin lives with her husband and two daughters on a dairy farm in a small Wisconsin community. After an accident on her property ...

In Too Deep
1999
as Denise
Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold o...

Desert Blue
1999
as Agent Summers
An academic obsessed with roadside attractions and his tv-star daughter stop at a small desert town to see the world's largest ice cream cone, where, ...

Side Streets
1998
as Brenda Boyce
The lives of diverse characters in each of New York City's five boroughs overlap.

Ed's Next Move
1996
as Erica
Ed lives in Wisconsin. He's just been dumped by his girlfriend, so he moves to New York City for a big change...but will he ever find love again? He l...

Girls Town
1996
as Nikki
The death of a friend galvanizes three high school young women to reassess their friendship and their lives.

HBCU Honors
N/A
as Self
The Inaugural HBCU Honors is an evening in Miami, Fl. hosted by Wendy Raquel Robinson to celebrate HBCU alum: Sheila Chamberlain, Pinky Cole, Aunjanue...
Liz Here Now
N/A
as Liz Baxter
Liz Baxter, who works as a nanny for a prominent, has a white family in Oakland, California, during the rise of the Black Panther Party in 1967. When ...
Liz Here Now
N/A
Executive Producer
Liz Baxter, who works as a nanny for a prominent, has a white family in Oakland, California, during the rise of the Black Panther Party in 1967. When ...
Untitled Sister Rosetta Tharpe Biopic
N/A
Writer
A biopic of the Godmother of Rock and Roll.