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Judyann Elder graduated from Emerson College in Boston as the inaugural recipient of the Carol Burnett Award in the Performing Arts. She launched her professional career in New York off-Broadway as a founding member and resident actor of the Tony Award-winning Negro Ensemble Company. She originated roles in the premiere productions of The Song of the Lusitanian Bogey, Daddy Goodness, Kongi's Harvest, God is a Guess What, and Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, touring with the company in London and Rome. Elder made her Broadway debut at the Ambassador Theatre as Coretta King opposite Billy Dee Williams in I Have a Dream. She frequently returns to regional theater, performing in plays such as The Heliotrope Bouquet, An American Daughter, The Old Settler, The Story, and Fences.
A seasoned television actress with numerous credits, some of her notable roles include playing Candice Bergen's obstetrician on Murphy Brown, Gina's mother on the hit series Martin, Harriet Winslow in the final season of Family Matters, and Terri Hatcher's psychiatrist on Desperate Housewives. A breast cancer survivor and former legislative ambassador for the American Cancer Society, her portrayal of a woman facing breast cancer on ER remains deeply personal. Her film appearances include A Woman Called Moses with Cicely Tyson, Forget Paris opposite Billy Crystal, and Seven Pounds alongside Will Smith.
In radio, she recently portrayed Lena Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for LA TheatreWorks' national radio series, which won a 2012 Audie Award. Elder’s acting career opened doors to directing, with credits including The Book of the Crazy African (Skylight Theatre), The Meeting (Inner City Cultural Center, LA and New Federal Theatre, NY), Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (Beverly Canon Theatre), The Member of the Wedding (LA Theatre Works), How's Your Love Life?, and A Private Act (Robey Theatre Company). Her direction of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men for the LA TheatreWorks radio series at the Skirball Cultural Center was nationally broadcast in February 2010.
She is an alumna of the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women, where she produced and directed the short film Behind God's Back, based on an Alice Walker story and starring Beau Bridges. Elder received a Screenwriting Fellowship with Walt Disney Studios, was honored with a NAACP Trailblazer Award in 2005, and earned a Distinguished Alumni Award from Emerson College in 2010. As an accomplished filmmaker, her latest short film, A Private Act, premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival and is available on Vimeo. Having recently directed The Whipping Man for LA TheatreWorks, she is set to return in January 2017 to direct Seven.
