Salli Richardson-Whitfield

Salli Richardson began her professional acting career in the theater at the Kuumba Workshop in Chicago and eventually moved to Los Angeles where she landed numerous guest roles on series such as "Silk Stalkings," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "New York Undercover," "The Jamie Fox Show" and "Stargate SG-1." Richardson spent three seasons as the voice of Elisa Maza on Disney's animated series "Gargoyles." before graduating to roles in feature films, particulary worjking with minority directors, including Mario Van Peebles' "Posse" (1993), Lou Diamond Phillips' directorial debut film "Souix City" (1994)--which won the Gold Medal at the Houston Film Festival-Keenan Ivory Wayans' "A Low Down Dirty Shame" (1994), Tim Reid's "Once Upon a Time.

When We Were Colored" (1995), HBO's "Soul Of The Game" (1996) and Reginald Hudlin's "The Great White Hype" opposite Samuel L. Jackson. She also held regular or recurring roles on numerous television shows including Showtime's "Rude Awakenings," UPN's "Mercy Point" and CBS's "Family Law." She snared her highest profile role to date playing the role of Berta for director Denzel Washington in "Antwone Fisher" (2002). Next Richardson--by that point married to actor Dondre Whitfield and billed as Salli Richardson-Whitfield--appeared in "Biker Boyz" (2003), opposite her "Fisher" co-star Derek Luke, Laurence Fishburne and Kid Rock, followed by the horror-thriller "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (2004). In between those fetaure films she landed a recurring role as Erica Logan on the CBS crime procedural "CSI: Miami" beginning in 2003.