L. Scott Caldwell - Career

Career

Caldwell planned on a teaching career and taught at Chicago High School of the Performing Arts. She also worked a year for the Chicago Council on Fine Arts as an artist-in-residence. While in Chicago Caldwell performed in local theatrical productions at the Body Politic, Court Theater, and Eleventh Street Theater.

She went to New York in 1978 to audition for Uta Hagen's school HB Studio. While waiting to audition she saw an ad for The Negro Ensemble Company. After her audition at Hagen's school she took the subway to the NEC. Caldwell was initially rebuffed by the person who interviewed her but she insisted on meeting with Mr. Ward. She used the three pieces she performed at her audition for Hagen. She was accepted by both Hagen and Ward.

During her first season at NEC Caldwell performed in several plays. One of those plays, Home, by Samm Art Williams, took her to the Cort Theatre on Broadway in 1980. The play was critically acclaimed and earned a Tony Award nomination for Charles Brown. After Home closed Caldwell worked in several regional theater productions including Boesman and Lena at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and A Raisin in the Sun at Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, New York. She also had small roles in film (Without a Trace), and daytime television (All My Children).

In December 1984, while working in Play of Giants, Caldwell was struck by a car while hailing a cab on Columbus Avenue in New York. She suffered a severe back injury and was unable to work for nearly two years. Her first audition after her recovery was for the August Wilson play Joe Turner's Come and Gone. She did not get the role she wanted. But the role of Bertha Holly was a history maker. Caldwell's performance earned her a 1988 Tony Award. She thanked her mother, siblings, and son during her acceptance speech.

Soon after winning the Tony Caldwell moved to southern California to work in television and film. She is extremely busy, working in several cities in the US, Canada, and South Africa, and continues to work in theater. She returned to Broadway in 1997 as the lead in Neil Simon's Proposals. The play was not very well accepted by audiences but Caldwell's performance was critically acclaimed. After Proposals closed Caldwell performed the role of Leah, Little Augie's sister, in the New York City Center's Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert production of St. Louis Woman. In 2006, Caldwell made her Goodman Theatre debut in Regina Taylor's The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove. In 2011, she took on the monumental lead role of Lena Younger in the Ebony Repertory Theatre production of the Lorraine Hansberry classic A Raisin in the Sun. The play was directed by Phylicia Rashad. Caldwell, along with the entire cast, was nominated for the LA Stage Alliance 2011 Ovation Award for her work in the play. She won the 2011 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for lead performance and ensemble performance for her outstanding work as Lena.

Caldwell is an active member of Unite For Strength, the Screen Actors Guild coalition in favor of joining with AFTRA. On September 19, 2008, she won a seat as an alternate on the national board of directors and Hollywood division board of directors. Caldwell was elected to a second one-year term September 24, 2009. She served on the Seniors, Legislative, Women, Holiday Host, Honors and Tributes, and EEOC committees. In September 2010, she was elected to a one-year term on the national board of directors. She served as the national chair of the Women's committee. In 2011, Caldwell is on the SAG national board of directors ballot for a fourth consecutive year. She won a three-year term on the national and Hollywood boards. She will serve as national chair of Women, and Healthcare Safetynet committees.