Regina Taylor

With an impressive body of work that encompasses film, television, theater and writing, Regina Taylor’s career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects.
 Taylor is best known to television audiences for her role as Lilly Harper in the series "I'll Fly Away." She received many accolades for her performance in the show including winning a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Taylor was most recently seen starring in the CBS hit drama "The Unit". She took home the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Actress in a Drama” for her work on the show.
Regina made her professional acting debut on CBS in the movie "Crisis at Central High" and other television credits include the series "The Education of Max Bickford," "Feds" as well as television movies "Strange Justice” playing Anita Hill, earning her a Peabody Award and Gracie Award, "Cora Unashamed," "Children of the Dust," "I'll Fly Away: Then and Now," "Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder." Segueing effortlessly between the big and small screen, Taylor has starred in blockbuster films alongside some of Hollywood most talented leading men. Her film credits include "The Negotiator," "Courage Under Fire," "A Family Thing," "The Keeper," "Clockers," "Losing Isaiah," and "Lean on Me."


In addition to her film and television work, Taylor holds the honor as being the first Black woman to play William Shakespeare's Juliet in Broadway's "Romeo and Juliet." Her other theater credits include "As You Like It," "Macbeth," "Machinal," "The Illusion" and "Jar the Floor." In addition, she won the L.A. Dramalogue Award for her performance in "The Tempest" on the west coast. 

Taylor not only feels comfortable on the stage, she is also an accomplished playwright and director. Her other credits as playwright include "Oo-Bla-Dee," for which she won the American Critics' Association new play award, "Drowning Crow," (her adaptation of Chekhov's THE SEAGULL, which was produced on Broadway by Manhattan Theater Club in its inaugural season at the Biltmore Theater and starred Alfre Woodard), "The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove," "A Night in Tunisia," "Escape from Paradise," "Watermelon Rinds," and "Inside the Belly of the Beast." Taylor’s critically acclaimed "Crowns" continues to be one of the most performed musicals in the country. It is the winner of four Washington D.C. Helen Hayes awards including Taylor’s win for Best Direction as well as Best Regional Musical. Taylor’s play “Magnolia” premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in March 2009. Taylor’s trilogy, “The Trinity River Plays” premiered as a co-production with the Dallas Theater Center and the Goodman Theatre and was the Recipient of the 2010 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. Most recently Taylor wrote and directed Post Black, (a monologue played by Micki Grant, Carmen De Lavallade, and Ruby Dee) for The River Crosses Rivers II Festival at NYC’s Ensemble Studio Theatre. Taylor is a member and Artistic Associate of the Goodman Theatre and a resident playwright at NYC’s Signature Theatre Company.

She received the Hope Abelson Artist-In-Residence Award from Northwestern in 2010. Creator and Curator of The State(s) of America – The Regina Taylor Project, a festival involving multiple departments at Northwestern University; students were challenged to own their own voice by creating plays, films, interactive graphic art, stories, spoken word and devised pieces that hold up mirrors to these times. She has received honorary doctorates from Columbia College, DePaul University and Lake Forest College.

Taylor is also the National Spokesperson for the Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness Organization (OCSA), launched in 2010 to educate both women and men about this deadly disease, which is the number one gynecologic cancer killer of women. She was raised in Dallas, Texas and recently moved to Chicago.