Kimberly Elise is an award-winning actress who has garnered critical acclaim for her roles in features such as “Beloved,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” Her big screen debut was in the action-packed thriller “Set it Off,” alongside actresses Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Vivica Fox. Elise followed it up with a Cable Ace Award for her work in the movie “Ditchdigger’s Daughters,” but her break out role came in the film “Beloved,” with co-stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. She received several awards for her role in the film, including The Chicago Film Critic’s Most Promising Actress Award, the Best Supporting Actress Golden Satellite Award as well as an NAACP Image Award nomination. In 2000, Elise stepped into lead roles in “Bait” with Jamie Foxx, followed by “John Q” with Denzel Washington, yielding two additional NAACP Image Award nominations.

In 2004, Elise appeared in the remake of “The Manchurian Candidate,” followed by her leading role in “Woman Thou Art Loosed,” bringing her an Independent Spirit Award nomination and her fourth NAACP Image Award nod. Soon after, she starred in “Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” where she earned a BET Comedy Award and another NAACP Image Award.

Elise collected her second NAACP Best Actress Image Award for her performance on Jerry Bruckheimer’s CBS series “Close To Home.” In 2007, she starred opposite Terrence Howard in “Pride” as well as “The Great Debaters” with Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington. Elise then went on to accept her third NAACP Image Award For Best Actress for her role in the TNT presentation of “Gifted Hands – The Ben Carson Story” with co-star Cuba Gooding Jr.

In 2010, Elise once again joined forces with Tyler Perry, starring in his film adaptation “For Colored Girls” alongside Kerri Washington, Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and Phylicia Rashad. She took home her fourth NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a motion picture as well as Best Supporting Actress win from The African-American Film Critics Association. In May of 2013, Elise made a return to the world of television as the star of VH1’s new scripted series “Hit The Floor.”

Elise currently resides in Los Angeles.