Yvette Freeman

Yvette Freeman is an American actress singer and director Predominantly active as a stage actress she made her Broadway debut in 1979 in the original production of Aint Misbehavin She won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her portrayal of Dinah Washington in the 1998 OffBroadway play Dinah Was On television she is best known for her roles as Haleh Adams in the NBC medical drama series ER Evelyn Smalley in the TV series Working and Irma Lerman in Orange Is the New Black Freeman was born and raised in Wilmington Delaware She later moved to New York City to pursue a career in graphic design There she turned to acting on stage productions before appearing in The Wiz and Aint Misbehavin At the same time she also worked as a singer in nightclubs and performed in cabaret In 1990 Freeman relocated to Los Angeles and began appearing on television in shows like Tales from the Crypt Knots Landing and LA Law Freeman is best known for her role as Haleh Adams a registered nurse on the NBC medical drama series ER She played the role from 1994 to the series finale in 2009 appearing in 184 episodes total She was one of the longestserving recurring characters on the show having appeared in every season since 1994 with her first appearance in the twohour pilot episode From 1997 to 1999 she was also a regular on the NBC sitcom Working while still appearing in ER In 2002 during ER summer hiatus she lost 120 pounds and now speaks as a positive advocate for weight loss In 1999 Freeman released her debut album A Tribute to Dinah Washington after performing in the OffBroadway production of Dinah Was She won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress in 1998 In 2012 she played Ma Rainey the Mother of the Blues in the Huntington Theatre Company production of August Wilsons Ma Raineys Black Bottom In 2000s Freeman had recurring roles on the daytime soap operas Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful and guest starred on Judging Amy Boston Public and CSI Crime Scene Investigation In 2014 Freeman was cast as Irma one of The Golden Girls in the Netflix comedydrama series Orange Is the New Black Along with cast Freeman received Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Source Article Yvette Freeman from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30