Background

Yvette Freeman was born on October 1, 1957, in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. She is the second oldest of seven children of Charles and Ruth Freeman. Yvette's father was a professional jazz pianist and she was raised in a home filled with music. Freeman and her father often sang together and he played the piano for her.

Education

Yvette Freeman graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Theater in 1972. She also completed the American Film Institute's program Director's Workshop for Women in 1999.

Career

After earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware in 1972, Yvette Freeman headed for New York armed with a graphic design portfolio. Yvette was rejected by the agencies she approached and so she began to look seriously at acting. She was hired by a repertory company, Theater for the Forgotten, which performed in clubs and in prisons. A few years later Freeman left the repertory company and went on the road with various productions, including The Wiz, and Ain't Misbehavin', which utilized her tremendous singing voice, and led to roles on stage, television and feature films. She also performed in the Broadway production of Ain't Misbehavin' and traveled to Europe for its production there as well. Freeman starred in The First National, Paris, and International, companies of Ain't Misbehavin'. Freeman's other stage credits include Elegies for Angel Punks and Raging Queens as Bertha (Los Angeles), Sister Hubert in Nunsense (Boston), Queenie in Show Boat (St. Louis), the Sacramento production of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Jewel, and as Bernice in Member of the Wedding (Portland). She was also in the national and international touring company productions of The Wiz; Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope; Voices, Inc.; and Mademoiselle Rose in Monte Carlo and China. After the play and a stint in Paris cabaret, she returned to New York but decided to change a bit her occupation and headed for Hollywood.

Freeman landed bit parts and guest-starring roles on a number of television shows, including Doctor, Doctor, Life Goes On, Sisters, and The John Larroquette Show. Then in 1994, she got the role she is perhaps best known for, Nurse Haleh Adams on NBC's hit medical drama, ER. But in her own words, she almost did not make it for the audition. Her aging car was barely running when she entered the studio parking lot. She rushed through the reading. As she said: "I wasn't there. I was worried about getting home and finding another job that would pay to fix the Pinto," she recalled. But she got the job. Yvette played Nurse Haleh Adams for all 15 seasons. In 1996 she married a jazz pianist Lanny Hartley who was the musical director for singer and actress Della Reese.

Freeman has also had several movie roles, playing a nurse in the 1991 Dead Again, Samantha in Children of the Corn III in 1994, and a science teacher in the 1995 Angus, She also played in the 1992 television movie, Just My Imagination. In 1997 Freeman also took on another role in a television series, Working. Her character, as the no-nonsense office manager Evelyn Smalley, was at odds with her ER character, nurse Haleh Adams. Yvette recalled: "Most of the characters I've played, such as Haleh, are so warm and friendly. Evelyn, on the other hand, is pretty cold." In playing Evelyn Smalley, Freeman also had a more up-front role rather than one secondary to the stars as in ER. Freeman cut her appearances on ER in order to co-star in Working. She enjoyed playing Evelyn Smalley and admitted that it was fun, especially since she once worked as an office manager herself. Working only lasted two seasons.

Yvette Freeman was impressed by the "Queen of the Blues" Dinah Washington, and in 1995 she "became" Dinah Washington on stage, acting out her life and singing her songs. The off-Broadway show, Dinah Was became a hit and won critical acclaim. The play Dinah Was is based on the life of legendary jazz singer Dinah Washington and won Yvette an OBIE award for her role as Dinah Washington at the Gramercy Theatre, off-Broadway. The same play in 1996, in Los Angeles, garnered her Best Actress in a Musical from the NAACP, Ovation Awards, and LA Weekly. In 2004 Yvette Freeman won a second Ovation Award and NAACP Award for her performance in the play Dinah Was - recreating the role of Dinah Washington at the Long Beach International Theater in Long Beach, California. Yvette Freeman also recorded a CD of Dinah Washington songs, A Tribute to Dinah Washington, Songs from the Heart, and her newest CD In My Arms. She and her husband, Lanny, also an arranger, co-produced A Tribute to Dinah Washington, releasing it in 1999. Freeman's admiration of Dinah Washington was as much for her business skills as her musical talent. She was a businesswoman, had her own company, and produced other singers.

In 1999, Yvette Freeman added director to her credits. Her first film was The Blessing Way. She has gone on to write, direct and produce several short films including Remember, a film about Alzheimer's, which won several awards including Best Short Story for the Moondance 2004 Film Festival. Her other short films include The Making of a Global Village, a documentary about African Dance in a Los Angeles community, and for the internet site instantfilms.tv she made The Confused Toad and Hideous Scream. She has also directed an episode entitled Loui's Wish from the television series Wishful Things, and her voice was used for the Nurse Haleh Adams in a video game ER: The Game.

Achievements

• Yvette Freeman is an actress who appeared in numerous stage productions performing internationally such as Wiz, Ain't Misbehavin', Elegies for Angel Punks and Raging Queens, Mademoiselle Rose, and others. Freeman also appeared in films and television series most known as Nurse Haleh Adams in NBC's ER, as Evelyn Smalley in Working, and The Bold and the Beautiful. In 1999, Yvette released her debut album, A Tribute to Dinah Washington, after performing in the Office-Broadway production of Dinah Was. She won the OBIE Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress in 1998 and was twice nominated (2011, 2012) for Image Award by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series The Bold and the Beautiful. Beginning from 1999 Yvette Freeman began writing, directing, producing. Her first work was The Blessing Way, and then followed Remember, Hideous Scream, and an episode of Wishful Things series.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • The Revenant

    (In Los Angeles, a fallen soldier who has joined the ranks...)

    2009
  • Dead Again

    (woman who has lost her memory is taken in by a Los Angele...)

    1991
  • The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina

    (When two tiny people reunite fifteen years after their vi...)

    2002
  • 5 Star Day

    (One man's journey to disprove the theory of astrology lea...)

    2010
  • Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest

    (Two brothers connected to the murderous children's cult o...)

    1995
  • Norma Jean and Marilyn

    (This film follows Norma Jean from her simple, ambitious y...)

    1996
  • Switch

    (A sexist womanizer is killed by one of his former lovers ...)

    1991
  • Angus

    (Angus is a fat, dorky, and smart kid with an uncool pal a...)

    1995
  • The Last Word

    (Harriet is a retired businesswoman who tries to control e...)

    2017
  • The Blessing Way 2000

• music

  • Tribute to Dinah Washington 1999
  • In My Arms 2011

• TV series

  • Deputy

    (The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is one of the...)

    2020
  • Pretty Little Liars

    (Set one year after the disappearance of Alison, the manip...)

    2010
  • Orange is the New Black

    (Convicted of a decade-old crime of transporting drug mone...)

    2014
  • Alien Nation

    (A flying saucer crashed in the Mojave Desert and its inha...)

    1990
  • Boston Public

    (The lives of 10 faculty members at a high school in Bosto...)

    2000
  • The Bold and the Beautiful

    (Continuing drama combining romance and intrigue set again...)

    2009
  • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

    (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a drama about a team of...)

    2014
  • Sisters

    (Follows the lives and loves of four close, but very diffe...)

    1993
  • A Black Lady Sketch Show

    (A sketch-comedy series from comedian/actor Robin Thede, f...)

    2019
  • Living Single

    (Follows the lives of several single male and female roomm...)

    1996
  • Judging Amy

    (A family drama focused on three generations of women livi...)

    2000
  • ER

    (The lives, loves, and losses of the doctors and nurses of...)

    1994
  • NYPD Blue

    (Drama about the intertwined personal and private lives of...)

    1997
  • Saving Grace

    (An angel offers a jaded Oklahoma City police detective th...)

    2007
  • Watch Hangin' With Mr. Cooper

    (American comedy with the larger-than-life teacher and his...)

    1994
  • L.A. Law

    (The lives and work of the staff of a major Los Angeles la...)

    1994
  • The Tick

    (he story of superhero The Tick, based on the popular comi...)

    2001
  • Cop Rock

    (The musical adventures of a police force.)

    1990
  • Tales from the Crypt

    (Tales of horror based on the gruesome E.C. comic books of...)

    1991
  • Step by Step

    (Two families become one, step by step.)

    1991
  • Dragnet

    (Two straight-laced L.A.P.D. Detectives, Vic Daniels, and ...)

    1990

• Video game

  • ER 2005

Views

Yvette became a positive spokesperson for supporting weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle after losing 110 pounds to overcome her battle with diabetes and heart disease. Yvette was named National Advocacy Ambassador for the Diabetes Association where she speaks out about health concerns due to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. She also takes part in numerous charity concerts, festivals, and other events.

Membership

• 

  Yvette Freeman served as a National Advocacy Ambassador of the American Diabetes Association in 2003.

  American Diabetes Association , United States

• 

  Alzheimer's Association , United States

Personality

Freeman's father was a jazz pianist. They often played and sang together. As a girl, the young Yvette dreamed of becoming a singer. She recalled: "There was always music in our house. My mom didn't even care that she couldn't hold a note. If we tried to stop her, she would only sing louder. Which is why when I told my father I could sing, he made me prove it to him." Yvette's favorite singer was Dinah Washington, who had gained national prominence as the "Queen of the Blues." In an interview with the Mode magazine, Freeman said: "Washington's hit rhythm and blues and eventual crossover career ended in 1963 when at the age of 39 she died from alcohol and diet pill abuse. Between the diets and the pills, Dinah was obsessed with trying to be skinny. For a woman like myself who has tried every diet in the book, I can relate to her issues." Yvette lost 110 lbs. after starting to have health problems caused by diabetes. Freeman said she can identify with Dinah.

Physical Characteristics: Yvette Freeman has a height of 5 feet 6½ inches or 169 cm.

Interests

• Music & Bands

  jazz, blues, Dinah Washington

Connections

Yvette Freeman has been married to Lanny Hartley, a jazz pianist since January 27, 1996.

Father:

Charles Freeman

Mother:

Ruth Freeman

husband:

Larry Hartley

colleague:

Hattie Winston

colleague:

Noah Wyle

colleague:

Laura Innes

colleague:

Laura Cerón

colleague:

Danielle Brooks

References

• Yvette Freeman's Facebook
• The Official Site of Yvette Freeman