Early Life and Career
Born Vanessa Bell in Cleveland, Ohio, she received a Bachelor's of Fine Arts Degree from Ohio University where she was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Calloway also studied dance with Alvin Ailey, George Faison, and Otis Sallid. Calloway began her career as a dancer in Michael Bennett's original Broadway production of Dreamgirls. She also was in the ensemble of the short-lived musical Bring Back Birdie.
It was during this time period that Calloway directed the music video Angel Man for soul singer Rhetta Hughes.
Calloway first began acting in the long-running soap opera All My Children in 1982. She has appeared in various guest roles in television including Falcon Crest, 1st & Ten, L.A. Law, A Different World, Doctor Doctor, Dream On, Diagnosis: Murder, The Closer. In 1995, she co-starred opposite James Earl Jones and Joe Morton in the short-lived CBS drama Under One Roof. For her role on the series, Calloway was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. She has also received two Image Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Boston Public and The District.
In addition to television and stage work, Calloway has also appeared in several films. She made her film debut in the comedy Coming to America as Eddie Murphy's subservient bride-to-be. Calloway later appeared in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) opposite Angela Bassett, Crimson Tide (1995) starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, and Lakeview Terrace (2008) starring Samuel L. Jackson.
Read more about this topic: Vanessa Bell Calloway
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early, life and/or career:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Early rising is no pleasure; early drinking’s just the measure.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“Like children, the elders are a burden. But unlike children, they offer no hope or promise. They are a weight and an encumbrance and a mirror of our own mortality. It takes a person of great heart to see past this fact and to see the wisdom the elders have to offer, and so serve them out of gratitude for the life they have passed on to us.”
—Kent Nerburn (20th century)
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)