Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
| 2024 | Summer Camp (2024) | Mary |
| 2023 | Weathering (2023) | Actor |
| 2023 | The Book of Clarence (2024) | Actor |
| 2022 | The Gray Man (2022) | Actor |
| 2019 | The Lion King (2019) | Sarabi |
| 2019 | Clemency | Warden Bernadine Williams |
| 2018 | Saint Judy | Judge Benton |
| 2018 | NO SMALL MATTER | Executive Producer, Narrator |
| 2017 | Burning Sands | Professor Hughes |
| 2016 | Captain America: Civil War (2016) | Miriam |
| 2016 | Maya Angelou and Still I Rise | Self |
| 2016 | So B. It | Bernadette |
| 2015 | Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band | Mary Lou Williams |
| 2015 | Mississippi Grind | Actor |
| 2015 | Knucklehead | Sheila |
| 2014 | Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa | Executive Producer |
| 2014 | Annabelle (2014) | Evelyn |
| 2014 | The Hadza: Last of the First | Narrator |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Mistress Shaw |
| 2008 | Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys | Alice |
| 2008 | American Violet | Alma Roberts |
| 2008 | Reach for Me | Evelyn |
| 2006 | Take the Lead | Augustine James |
| 2006 | Something New | Joyce McQueen |
| 2006 | The Water Is Wide | Mrs. Brown |
| 2005 | Beauty Shop | Miss Josephine |
| 2004 | The Forgotten (2004) | Ann Pope |
| 2003 | The Core | Stick |
| 2003 | The Singing Detective | Chief of Staff |
| 2003 | Radio | Principal Daniels |
| 2002 | The Wild Thornberrys Movie | Akela, the mother cheetah |
| 2001 | K-PAX | Claudia Villars |
| 2000 | Dinosaur (2000) | Plio |
| 2000 | Love & Basketball | Camille Wright |
| 2000 | What's Cooking? | Audrey Williams |
| 1999 | Mumford | Lily |
| 1998 | Down in the Delta | Loretta Sinclair |
| 1997 | Miss Evers' Boys | Eunice Evers |
| 1996 | Star Trek: First Contact | Lily Sloane |
| 1996 | Follow Me Home | Evey |
| 1996 | Primal Fear | Judge Miriam Shoat |
| 1995 | How to Make an American Quilt | Marianna |
| 1994 | Crooklyn | Carolyn Carmichael |
| 1994 | Blue Chips | Lavada McRae |
| 1993 | Heart and Souls | Penny Washington |
| 1992 | Rich in Love | Rhody Poole |
| 1992 | Passion Fish | Chantelle |
| 1991 | Grand Canyon | Jane |
| 1990 | Blue Bayou (1990) | Jessica Filley |
| 1989 | Miss Firecracker | Popeye Jackson |
| 1988 | Scrooged | Grace Cooley (Frank Cross' secretary) |
| 1986 | Unnatural Causes | Maude DeVictor |
| 1984 | The Killing Floor | Mattie |
| 1984 | Go Tell It on the Mountain | Esther |
| 1983 | Cross Creek (1983) | Geechee |
| 1980 | H.E.A.L.T.H. | Sally Benbow |
| 1978 | Remember My Name (1978) | Rita |
