Regina Hall

Regina Hall
Hall in 2014
Born	Regina Lee Hall (1970-12-12) December 12, 1970 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater	Fordham University (B.A.) New York University (M.A.)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present

Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her lead role as Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie film series (2000–2006). Hall, who was an English major in college and studied journalism in graduate school, envisioned a career as a journalist, but ventured into acting in her late twenties.

Hall has appeared on numerous television series, most prominently in a recurring role on the comedy series Ally McBeal (2001–2002). Her other significant films include The Best Man (1999) and its sequel The Best Man Holiday (2013), Love & Basketball (2000), Malibu's Most Wanted (2003), Think Like a Man (2012) and its sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014), About Last Night (2014), Vacation (2015), Girls Trip (2017), and The Hate U Give (2018). She received critical acclaim for starring as Lisa Conroy in the comedy film Support the Girls (2018), becoming the first African American to win the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, and received nominations for the Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress.

Early life

Hall was born on December 12, 1970, in Washington, D.C., the daughter of a contractor and electrician father, Odie Hall, and a teacher mother, Ruby. After graduating from Immaculata College High School, Hall enrolled at Fordham University in New York City, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1992. She later enrolled at New York University, where she earned a Master's degree in journalism in 1997. Reflecting on college, Hall said: "I loved being a student. I could've gone to school until I was 75 years old as long as somebody would've paid my rent. I would've been a professional student."

She wanted a career with impact and envisioned a career in writing or journalism, but Hall's first semester of graduate school changed drastically when her father died of a stroke. "It was sudden. And I think when sudden events that are painful happen in your life, you know, they redirect your course," Hall reflected. "When you’re young, you don’t grasp the gravity of life. But when you lose someone and you’re young, you do. And so I think that started me thinking about what I really wanted to do in life. And I know my father would have wanted me to finish school. So I did that." She began a career in the entertainment industry, starting off with a guest appearance on Sadat X's 1996 album Wild Cowboys on the track, "The Interview".

Career

In 1997, Hall appeared in her first television commercial at the age of 26. Her television career initially began with a role on the soap opera Loving, and guest appearances on the Fox police drama New York Undercover. She had a small part in the 1999 film The Best Man. She left a lasting impression on viewers with her portrayal of the character Candace "Candy" Sparks. Hall reflected: "It was my very first movie. I met Sanaa Lathan on it, and we did Love and Basketball together, which was my second film. And then, at that point, I was visiting L.A. to stay and it led to a third film and a fourth film. And it was really a big deal because I'd never been on a set before." It signaled a pivotal point for Hall’s career. As a key member of the all-star cast, she welcomed rising-star status in "black-Hollywood".

Hall gained more recognition with her role in the comedy-horror-spoof Scary Movie (and the sequels Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, and Scary Movie 4) portraying the obnoxious, sex-crazed Brenda Meeks, and the TV movie Disappearing Acts. The Scary Movie films would become some of her best known roles. In 2001, Hall landed the role of Coretta Lipp on the prime-time drama Ally McBeal, which was originally a recurring role over several episodes but was made a main character in the 5th season of the show. A year later, she starred in the action-drama Paid in Full, a film directed by Charles Stone III. Since then, she has appeared in leading roles in films such as Malibu's Most Wanted, King's Ransom and The Honeymooners.

She appeared in the film Law Abiding Citizen in 2009. She had a role in the 2010 Danneel Harris and Arielle Kebbel film Mardi Gras. From its fall 2010 debut until a series overhaul in January 2011, Regina Hall portrayed Deputy District Attorney Evelyn Price on Law & Order: LA. In addition to being an actress and advocate, Regina Hall announced in November 2010 that she is now writing for ABILITY Magazine.

In 2012, she portrayed Candace Hall in Steve Harvey's movie Think Like a Man, a romantic comedy based on his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. Hall reprised her role as Candace Sparks in The Best Man Holiday in 2013. She believed the characters had evolved from the first film. Hall felt The Best Man Holiday was different from any sequel she had ever done before since it was not "immediate" and it had been fourteen years since the release of the original. Hall felt the first film had "the joy of the wedding" and in the sequel "they come together for the holidays, but it's deeper than that. This one's definitely different, but we still laughed. There was so much laughter behind the scenes." Hall joked about how all of the male members of the cast were married while all of the women were not, stating that Morris Chestnut was happily married while walking around "with his shirt off!"

Hall appeared in the 2014 film About Last Night, costarring Kevin Hart. She and Hart were seen as the film's highlight as they had a "great dynamic together" and the two were credited with having the funniest lines in the film. All of the cast was seen as having a "perfect mix of charisma and likability". Jessica Herndon of the Associated Press stated "Hart and Hall are the best part of this film. They play the couple you know all too well: fiery, able to press one another's buttons and always caught in the makeup to breakup game." Negative reviews of the film also praised the pairing of Hall with Kevin Hart. Mick LaSalle of The San Francisco Chronicle expressed that Hart was "well paired for Hall, who matches him for comedy." At the time of the film's release, both Hall and Hart expressed interest in working on other projects together. About Last Night was her third ensemble film and Hall reflected that she learned from actors she worked with in ensembles.

Hall reprised her role as Candace Hall in Think Like a Man Too. She revealed what members of the cast partied the most in the film shortly before the movie's release. "Everyone kind of had their fun, I'm not gonna lie. We went out, we gambled. Kevin [Hart] parties. There were parties, and we all went. It was good fun". In July 2014, it was announced Hall would star in a Lifetime film, entitled With This Ring, with Eve and Jill Scott.

In the 2015 film People Place Things, Hall had a major role as the love interest of a newly divorced man.

In 2016, Hall was in Barbershop: The Next Cut. She played the role of Angie, one of the hair stylists, alongside Ice Cube, Common, and Eve.

In 2017, Hall co-starred in the comedy film Girls Trip, which became a critical and commercial success.

In 2018, Hall was part of the ensemble cast in The Hate U Give. She also had the lead in Support the Girls, a film directed by Andrew Bujalski. For the latter, she received critical praise, and was nominated for several awards, winning the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. She is the first African-American to win the award.

Personal life

Around 2004, Hall's mother was diagnosed with scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease. When not working in Hollywood, Hall can be found volunteering for the care of senior citizens at a Sherman Oaks, California, convalescent home twice a week as well as raising public awareness for the disease. "When my mom was diagnosed, I didn’t know much about the condition. But Dana Delany, who is an actress and now a friend of mine, put me in touch with Bob Saget. Bob had made a television movie about scleroderma years ago because his sister had died from it. That was back when they didn’t even know what it was. Anyway, Bob had a group called the Scleroderma Research Foundation, so I donated to that and my mother even went to the doctor Bob had suggested, who happened to be over at Johns Hopkins."

In 2010, when she was 40, Hall unsuccessfully tried to become a nun after a bad break-up, having previously wanted to become a nun at the age of 14. She was refused for being too old, as the cut-off age is 39.

In 2014, she signed as an ambassador for Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds. Hall has also voiced her admiration for Taylor. "I love Elizabeth Taylor. The reason I always was such a fan, I read her The New York Times bestseller. She was one of the people who I felt equally possessed the same amount of talent as she did beauty. Her work that she did throughout her entire career–I watched her on General Hospital and what I always loved about her was that she was elegant. Whenever I do red carpet looks one of the things that I like is to always make sure that there’s a sense of elegance and class. And I felt like she always exuded that."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1999	The Best Man	Candace "Candy" Sparks
2000	Love & Basketball	Lena Wright
	Disappearing Acts	Portia
	Scary Movie	Brenda Meeks
2001	Scary Movie 2
2002	The Other Brother	Vicki
	Paid in Full	Keisha
2003	Malibu's Most Wanted	Shondra
	Scary Movie 3	Brenda Meeks
2005	King's Ransom	Peaches Clarke
	The Honeymooners	Trixie Norton
	Six Months Later	Keri
2006	Scary Movie 4	Brenda Meeks
	Danika	Evelyn
	The Elder Son	Susan
2008	First Sunday	Omunique
	Superhero Movie	Mrs. Xavier
2009	Law Abiding Citizen	Kelly Rice
2010	Death at a Funeral	Michelle Barnes
2011	Mardi Gras: Spring Break	Ann Marie
2012	Think Like a Man	Candace Hall
2013	The Best Man Holiday	Candace "Candy" Sparks
2014	About Last Night	Joan Derrickson
	Think Like a Man Too	Candace Hall
2015	People Places Things	Diane
	Vacation	Nancy Peterson
2016	Barbershop: The Next Cut	Angie
	When the Bough Breaks	Laura Taylor
2017	Girls Trip	Ryan Pierce
	Naked	Megan Swope
2018	Support the Girls	Lisa Conroy
	The Hate U Give	Lisa Carter
2019	Little	Jordan Sanders	Also executive producer
	Shaft	Mrs. Shaft

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1992	Loving	Unknown	Episode: "13 August 1992"
1997	New York Undercover	Tammy	Episode: "No Place Like Hell"
2000	Disappearing Acts	Portia	Television movie
2000	NYPD Blue	Sharice Warner	Episode: "Little Abner"
2001–2002	Ally McBeal	Corretta Lipp	25 episodes
2010–2011	Law & Order: Los Angeles	Deputy D.A. Evelyn Price	7 episodes
2013	Second Generation Wayans	Regina	4 episodes
2014	Married	Roxanne	2 episode
2015	With This Ring	Trista Miller	Television movie
2015	Key & Peele	Wife #1	Episode: "Airplane Showdown"
2016	Grandfathered	Catherine Sanders	Recurring role; 5 episodes
2016	Uncle Buck	Jackie King	Episode: "Pilot"
2016	Lip Sync Battle	Herself	Episode: "Lupita Nyong'o vs. Regina Hall"
2016–2017	Black-ish	Vivian	3 episodes
2017	Crushed	Celia	Television movie
2017	Insecure	Ninny	4 episodes
2019–present	Black Monday	Dawn Darcy	Main role

Accolades

Year	Work	Award	Result
2003	Ally McBeal	NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2018	Girls Trip	NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated
2018	Support the Girls	African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Won
		Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress	Nominated
		Boston Online Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble	Won
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress	Pending
		Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast	Runner-up
		Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress	Runner-up
		New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress	Won
		San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Seattle Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (tied with Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Olivia Colman for The Favourite)	Won
		Talk Film Society Award for Best Actress	Pending
		Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated

External links

• Regina Hall at IMDb
• "Regina Hall—Interview", Regina Hall Issue, ABILITY Magazine, April/May 2010