Michael Michele Biography

Michael Michele
Biography

Birth Name
Michael Michele Williams
Date of birth (location)
30 August 1966
Evansville, Indiana, USA

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This highly attractive biracial American actress has moved back and forth between TV and feature films since the early 1990s but has yet to secure a star-making role. Often cast as professional women, Michael Michele first won attention playing a kind of role she has not been given since--Selina, the gangster's moll, in "New Jack City" (1991).
She appeared in several Freddie Jackson music videos, but it was five years before she had another chance in feature films playing the sports reporter/love interest of Kadeem Hardison in "The Sixth Man" (1997). She also landed the leading female role opposite Treat Williams in the sequel "The Substitute 2: School's Out" (HBO, 1998).

Michele remains more recognizable from her frequent TV roles. She appeared in an episode of "First and 10" (HBO, 1992) and in the TV series "Dangerous Curves" (CBS, 1992) but had her first real break as the young female lead, an "island beauty," in "Trade Winds", a six-hour NBC "Great Escapes" miniseries which aired in 1993. From 1994-1995, she had the recurring role of a buppie attorney and love interest for Malik Yoba on the Fox drama series "New York Undercover". Michele then portrayed the sultry SoHo art gallery owner romanced by both Ron Leibman and John Barrowman in the CBS primetime soap "Central Park West/CPW" (1995-96). During the early weeks of that series, she was tapped as one of the anchors of CBS' "All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade" coverage.

In the fall of 1998, Michele joined the cast of NBC's acclaimed police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street" for its final season as Det. Rene Sheppard (a role she reprised for the 2000 reunion telepic , then immediately landed the role of Dr. Cleo Finch on NBC's powerhouse medical drama "ER," playing Eriq LaSalle's love interest from 1999-2001. Becoming a darling of entertainment and fashion magazines due to her incredible beauty and unfailing taste in designer clothing, Michele used her increased profile to graduate to A-list feature films, playing Mohammed Ali's (Will Smith) glamorous and poised love interest Veronica Porsche in director Michael Mann's biopic "Ali" (2001). Next was a role in the romantic comedy "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (2003) playing a confident ad exec; and a turn in the James Ellroy-penned, Ron Shelton-directed cop thriller "Dark Blue" opposite Kurt Russell.