Louise Beavers - Early Life

Early Life

Louise Ellen Beavers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to school teacher Ernestine Monroe Beavers and William M. Beavers, who was originally from Georgia. Due to her mother's illness, Louise and her parents moved to Pasadena, California.

In Pasadena, she attended school and engaged in several after school activities such as basketball and church choir. Her mother also worked as a voice teacher and taught Louise how to sing for concerts. In June 1920, she graduated from Pasadena High School and “worked as a dressing room attendant for a photographer and served as a personal maid to white film star Leatrice Joy”.

There is some controversy as to how Louise Beavers began her acting career. She was in a group called the Lady Minstrels who were "a group of young women who staged amateur production and appeared on stage at the Loews State Theatre". It was either her performance in this group or in a contest at the Philharmonic Auditorium, which occurred later. Charles Butler from the Central Casting Bureau, who was known for being an agent for African American actors, saw the performance and recommended that Louise try out for a role for a movie.” At first she was hesitant to try out for movies because of how African Americans were portrayed in movies and how Hollywood encouraged these roles. She once said, “In all the pictures I had seen…they never used colored people for anything except savages.” Despite this, she tried out for a role in the film Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1927 and landed the part.