LaTanya Richardson Jackson

Richardson has appeared in films including Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Losing Isaiah (1995), Lone Star (1996), U.S. Marshals (1998), and The Fighting Temptations (2003). Her television credits include 100 Centre Street (2001–2002), Show Me a Hero (2015), Luke Cage (2016–2018), and Rebel (2017).

She was born in Atlanta, Georgia on October 12, 1949. While attending Atlanta's historically Black, all-female Spelman College in 1970, she met Samuel L. Jackson, then a student at the historically Black, all-male Morehouse College. She and Jackson married in 1980 and have one child together (b. 1982). After her daughter's birth, Richardson stopped working regularly for family reasons. She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha inducted during the 2026 Boule.

Richardson played Paulina Pritchett in the 2003 musical film The Fighting Temptations. She has appeared in four films with her husband, Samuel L. Jackson: Juice (1992), Losing Isaiah (1995), Freedomland (2006), and Mother and Child (2009).

In 2014, Richardson received a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in the play A Raisin in the Sun, her second appearance on Broadway after her debut in the 2009 revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. She appeared in Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway in the 2018–19 season.

From 2017 to 2023, Richardson made regular appearances as Maggie Pierce’s adoptive mother, Diane, on Grey's Anatomy.

In September 2022, Richardson made her directorial debut directing the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.