Michael Michele
| Michael Michele | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Michael Michele Williams August 30, 1966 Evansville, Indiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Children | 1 |
Michael Michele (born August 30, 1966) is an American actress and fashion designer. She played Dr. Cleo Finch on the NBC medical drama ER and Det. Rene Sheppard on the NBC police procedural Homicide: Life on the Street. Her films include the Academy Award-nominated biographical drama Ali.
Michele was born Michael Michele Williams in Evansville, Indiana, the elder of two daughters. Her father is white and her mother is black. Her father is a furniture-rental entrepreneur and her mother was employed by Bristol-Myers. She was named for her mother's best friend, Michael Ann. Michele attended Howard Roosa Elementary School and Benjamin Bosse High School, where she was active on the basketball team. She has a son J. Brandon, born December 21, 2004.
Michele has appeared in music videos by R&B singers Freddie Jackson and Eric Gable. In 1989 she sued actor Eddie Murphy in a high-profile Hollywood lawsuit alleging she was fired from the movie Harlem Nights for rejecting his romantic advances. "She had the role that's now being played by Jasmine Guy, from A Different World," Murphy told Rolling Stone. "The fact of the matter is, I wanted someone with greater marquee value than Michael Michele. She wasn't working out. As for her claim that I was touching her, realistically speaking, if you're gonna be a sleaze and try to fuck somebody, you try to fuck 'em before you give 'em the part… In her lawsuit, she says I tried to touch her, like I was a pervert. I never tried to touch this woman. We had, like, four conversations, each time with up to sixty people around us on a sound stage. But the lawsuit itself didn't bother me. Lawsuits for me are an occupational hazard."
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