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Kimberly Elise (born April 17, 1967) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role in the films Set It Off, Beloved, John Q, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and For Colored Girls. Elise is a four-time NAACP Image Award winner. Elise was born as Kimberly Elise Trammel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Erma Jean (née Johnson), an elementary school teacher, and Marvin Trammel, who owns an executive search firm. She has three siblings. Elise studied film and acting at the University of Minnesota and earned a BA in Mass Communications. She was married to... MORE

Kimberly Elise (born April 17, 1967) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role in the films Set It Off, Beloved, John Q, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and For Colored Girls. Elise is a four-time NAACP Image Award winner. Elise was born as Kimberly Elise Trammel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Erma Jean (née Johnson), an elementary school teacher, and Marvin Trammel, who owns an executive search firm. She has three siblings. Elise studied film and acting at the University of Minnesota and earned a BA in Mass Communications. She was married to Maurice Oldham (1958–2007) from 1989 until 2005; they have two children, Ajableu Oldham and Butterfly Oldham. He died from a "massive blood clot", according to Elise. Elise's maternal descent is of the Songhai people in Mali. Elise's first film was Set It Off (1996), in which she played one of four women who resort to robbing a bank for money. Her big break came in 1997 when she was cast in the Family Channel original television movie The Ditchdigger's Daughters, based on the Pulitzer-prize nominated and critically acclaimed 1995 memoir The Ditchdigger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success LESS