actor; dancer; choreographer
Personal Information
Born on September 4, 1957, in New York, NY; daughter of Henry and Alverina Alexander
Education: Queensborough Community College, BA, late-1970s.
Career
Broadway actress, 1980-1989; choreographer, 1989-1992; film and television actress, 1992-.
Life's Work
Though she had never considered a career in show business before enrolling in college, Khandi Alexander has made her mark as a respected and versatile actress. Her work on television dramatic series, sitcoms, and specials, as well as her roles in a range of films, has earned her both a wide audience and critical acclaim.
Fell in Love with Dance
Alexander, who was born on September 4, 1957, to a middle-class family in New York City, did not demonstrate particular interest in the performing arts until she registered for a dance class to fulfill the physical education requirement at Queensborough Community College. There she discovered a passion for dance that her teacher strongly encouraged. As Alexander noted in a People Weekly article, the teacher "made me believe I could be a dancer even though everyone else said I was too old." Despite the fact that most aspiring dancers begin physical training in early childhood, Alexander continued studying the demanding art form and, by the early 1980s, had begun appearing in Broadway shows.
Alexander appeared as Susie in Period of Adjustment in 1980 and 1981, and then landed the part of Charlene in the original Broadway run of the hit show Dreamgirls. Choreographed by Michael Bennet, who had made his name with A Chorus Line, the show--based on the aspirations of three black women singers reminiscent of The Supremes--featured jazz, R&B, soul, and disco style dance numbers. Dreamgirls ran for 1,522 performances and won six Tony Awards.
The phenomenal success of Dreamgirls led to greater opportunities for Alexander. In 1989, after meeting Whitney Houston backstage at an American Music Awards ceremony, Alexander became the pop star's choreographer, working with her on her world tour. The young dancer had seemingly reached the peak of her career.
Turned to Acting After Rehab
The limelight, however, brought stress as well as acclaim. To deal with this stress, Alexander began to take drugs in the mid-1980s. By the late-1980s, her drug problem began to interfere with her dancing and choreographing. Eventually Alexander had a breakdown and realized that she needed help. In 1990, with Houston's support, Alexander checked herself into a drug rehabilitation facility in California. After 30 days of treatment, she went back to work for Houston for another two years. But by then Alexander was feeling the need to branch out in new directions. She decided to focus her creative energies on acting.
Success, however, was not immediate. Alexander endured some financially lean times while she struggled to gain acceptance as an actress. She took small roles before finally landing a recurring role on the hit NBC series ER in 1995. That same year, she was cast as news anchorwoman Catherine Duke on NBC's NewsRadio, the role for which she became famous. "She showed such strength in her reading [for the part]," explained the show's executive producer in comments quoted in People Weekly, "we knew she could match [co-star Phil Hartman] word for word."
NewsRadio received highly favorable reviews, and critics particularly admired Alexander's portrayal of the feisty news anchor. Boston Globe writer Michael Blowen enjoyed the "splendid ensemble" of characters in the series and noted that the part of Catherine Duke, "whose disposition is as sweet as her tongue is tart," was "stylishly played" by Alexander. The actress "brought NewsRadio a lot of dignity and grace," observed her friend and colleague Dave Foley in a Los Angeles Times article. "She's highly underrated and underused. She should be doing everything."
Indeed, Alexander was juggling roles on two major series at the same time--proof of her ability to switch characters easily. Her part on ER as Jackie, the sister of Dr. Peter Benton, was both physically and emotionally different from her NewsRadio role. As Los Angeles Times writer Greg Braxton put it, Alexander "can disappear into a role, making her virtually unrecognizable from one part to the next."
Took on More Serious Roles
After three years on NewsRadio, however, Alexander needed a change. "It was hard being the only black person on a show that was all white," she told the Los Angeles Times. "It was OK for three years, and it was a loving atmosphere. I had the best time. But I wanted to act." She left the show in 1997 and began looking for new projects. In 2000 she costarred in the HBO dramatic miniseries The Corner, described in Entertainment Weekly as a "brilliant look at the inner-city struggle with drugs, tough times, and everyday life." Alexander played the part of Fran, a middle-class housewife, mother, and grandmother who has just kicked a serious drug habit. Describing Alexander's original audition for the part, the show's director, Charles Dutton, told the Los Angeles Times that the actress "just took over the room." She refused to make small talk with the producers, glared at the camera crew, and, after finishing her lines, lunged at the camera. Stunned, the production team realized that she was perfect for the part.
From the moment she read the first sentence of the script, Alexander told Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times, "I knew I had to have [the role]. I just understood it." To research the part, she got to know the woman who was the model for Fran. Respecting the woman's strength and desire to survive, Alexander imbued her character with similar passion. As Braxton noted, "Alexander portrays [Fran] as a bowed but far-from-broken street warrior, bouncing between bouts of uncontrolled rage, dead-eyed drugginess and unrestrained joy.... Alexander's [Fran] defies viewers to admire or sympathize with her, then breaks their hearts." Other critics also expressed enormous praise. Ken Tucker in Entertainment Weekly wrote that Alexander portrayed her character "with fierce humor and fiercer cynicism," and another reviewer from the Los Angeles Times described her performance as "extraordinary." In the New York Times, Caryn James commented that Alexander's "unglamorous performance as Fran gives the series much of its power." Describing the third episode as the best, James wrote: "With a ravaged look, Ms. Alexander ... gets inside the mind of a woman who admits she is a junkie, but defiantly says she is also a good mother who never missed a school meeting or a juvenile hearing. She accepts with chilling matter-of-factness that her son's life will be plagued by drugs and tussles with the law. Her attempt to get herself into a detox program fast is heartbreaking."
After the success of The Corner, Alexander continued to take challenging roles. In 2002 she joined the cast of the CBS dramatic series CSI: Miami, a spin-off from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In the new series, wrote Boston Globe critic Matthew Gilbert, Alexander "is perfectly tough as the coroner."
Alexander has also appeared in several films, including Sugar Hill and There's Something about Mary. In her first film lead, in No Easy Way, she portrayed an inner-city mother who befriends an HIV-positive white man. More recently she has appeared in Fool Proof, Emmett's Mark, and Dark Blue.
Passionate about her craft, Alexander told Braxton that for her, acting "all starts from within. It has to be deeper than a gimmick. I want me to go away, to the point that everything I am and have is gone." With several critically-acclaimed roles to her credit, Alexander is looking forward to further creative projects that will continue to enhance her stature.
Works
Selected works
- CB4, 1993.
- Menace II Society, 1993.
- Poetic Justice, 1993.
- Sugar Hill, 1994.
- House Party 3, 1994.
- No Easy Way, 1996.
- There's Something about Mary, 1998.
- Thick as Thieves, 1998.
- Fool Proof, 2002.
- Emmett's Mark, 2002.
- Dark Blue, MGM, 2003.
- (choreographer) Whitney Houston: This Is My Life, ABC, 1992.
- News Radio, NBC, 1995-1997.
- ER, NBC, 1995-2001.
- The Corner, HBO, 2000.
- CSI Miami, CBS, 2002--.
Further Reading
Books
- Contemporary Theater, Film, and Television, Volume 46, Gale, 2003.
- Boston Globe, March 21, 1995, p. 32; September 23, 2002, p. B7.
- Entertainment Weekly, October 10, 1997, p. 75; April 14, 2000, p. 58.
- Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2000, p. 1; September 15, 2002, p. F13; September 23, 2002, p. F14.
- New York Times, April 14, 2000, p. E34.
- People Weekly, July 1, 1996, p. 196; May 26, 1997, p. 134.
- Time, April 17, 2000, p. 84.
- "Dreamgirls," The Guide to Musical Theater, www.nodanw.com/shows_d/dreamgirls (November 26, 2003).
- "New York City Landmark Guide-Imperial Theater," Jim's Deli, www.jimsdeli.com/landmarks/ (November 26, 2003).
— E. M. Shostak
