Gina Belafonte

Last updated
Gina Belafonte
Born (1961-09-08) September 8, 1961 (age 62)
New York City, New York, US
Occupations
  • Actress
  • producer
  • activist
Parent

Gina Belafonte (born September 8, 1961) is an American actress, film and stage producer, and civil rights activist. The youngest daughter of singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte, [1] she has appeared in such films as Bright Lights, Big City , Tokyo Pop (both 1988), and BlacKkKlansman (2018). Belafonte served as a producer on Sing Your Song , a 2011 documentary film about her father. She co-founded The Gathering for Justice, a nonprofit organization whose aim is to end child incarceration and eliminate the racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and is the CEO of Sankofa.org, a nonprofit founded by her father. [1]

Contents

Early life

Belafonte was born on September 8, 1961, at Mount Sinai Hospital [2] in New York City, New York, to Harry Belafonte and his then-wife Julie Robinson Belafonte. [1] As a young child, she visited Africa as well as the West Indies. [3] At age six, Gina Belafonte attended the Ethical Culture School in New York City alongside her brother David. [4]

Partial filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotesRef(s)
1984 Beat Street Elizabeth [5]
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Kathy [6] [7]
Tokyo Pop Holly [6] [8]
1989 Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haring NarratorShort documentary film [9]
1996 Kansas City Hey-Hey Club Hostess
1998 Operation Splitsville Bernice
2011 Sing Your Song SelfDocumentary film; also producer [10]
2016 Courting Des Moines Senator Gina Piccollo
2018 BlacKkKlansman Gina B.

Television

YearFilmRoleNotes
1987 All My Children Polly1 episode
1991–1993 The Commish Carmela Pagan33 episodes
1997 Duckman WandaVoice role; episode: "Aged Heat 2: Women in Heat"
Johnny Bravo Newscaster / ComputerVoice roles; episode: "Hip Hop Flop/Talk to Me, Baby/Blanky Hanky Panky"

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Gina Belafonte". Sankofa.org. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  2. "Stork Visits Belafontes". The Black Dispatch . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. September 22, 1961. p. 5. Retrieved May 26, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Belafontes Are a Closely Knit Family". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Honolulu, Hawaii. September 3, 1967. p. C-6. Retrieved May 26, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Ingle, Martha (January 5, 1968). "Belafontes Not 'Mixed' Couple --Just Perfectly Matched Pair". Miami Herald . Miami, Florida. p. 1-C. Retrieved May 26, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Breaking Smiles". Jet . Vol. 66, no. 2. March 19, 1984. p. 42. ISSN   0021-5996 . Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Briefly". Anderson Independent-Mail . Anderson, South Carolina. November 29, 1987. p. 4. Retrieved May 26, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Gina Belafonte: Film Execs Think That She's Too Light". Jet . Vol. 74, no. 3. April 18, 1988. p. 53. ISSN   0021-5996 . Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  8. Baltake, Joe (April 19, 1988). "A sweet heart beat to 'Tokyo Pop'". The Sacramento Bee . Sacramento, California. p. B9. Retrieved May 26, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  9. Reading Public Museum (2006). Keith Haring: Journey of the Radiant Baby. Bunker Hill Publishing. p. 21. ISBN   978-1593730529.
  10. Dargis, Manohla (January 12, 2012). "Movie Review | 'Sing Your Song' – Struggle and Song Define a Life". The New York Times . Retrieved May 26, 2024.

Further reading