Kasi Lemmons

Kasi Lemmons' feature screenwriting and directorial debut, Eve's Bayou, was the highest-grossing independent film of 1997. The film went on to win the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and receive seven NAACP Image Award nominations, including Best Picture. Eve's Bayou starred Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, and Vondie Curtis Hall; and was an early showcase for young actors Meagan Good and Jurnee Smollett.
Ms. Lemmons was also honored with a newly created award from the National Board of Review, for Outstanding Directorial Debut. Among the other honors for her and the film was the Director's Achievement Award at the Nortel Palm Springs Film Festival.
Her next film, The Caveman's Valentine, starring Samuel L. Jackson, opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. The following winter, Ms. Lemmons directed the moving Salute to Sidney Poitier that was broadcast on the Oscars telecast during which Mr. Poitier received an honorary Academy Award.
Ms. Lemmons also wrote and directed the short film Dr. Hugo, starring her husband Vondie Curtis Hall and Victoria Rowell. Made prior to Eve's Bayou, Dr. Hugo has since been screened at film festivals around the world.
Her earlier acting work includes Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs (opposite Jodie Foster); John Woo's Hard Target; Rusty Cundieff's Fear of a Black Hat; Bernard Rose's Candyman; David C. Johnson's Drop Squad; Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats; Robert Bierman's Vampire's Kiss; and Spike Lee's School Daze.

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