Lisa Gay Hamilton (born March 25, 1964 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress best known for her role as attorney Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama The Practice. She graduated with a degree in theatre from New York University and earned her master's degree from The Juilliard School.

She directed the documentary film Beah: A Black Woman Speaks in 2003. This film, about pioneering black actress Beah Richards, dealt with Hamilton seeking out Richards, an African-American actress who had broken ground making inroads for black actresses, and who had performed in major films like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Richards also made a memorable late-career appearance on the TV series Designing Women.

A graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts and the Juilliard School of Drama, Hamilton's extensive theatre credits include; Isabella in "Measure for Measure" and Lady Hotspur in "Henry IV Parts I & II" at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. She was an original cast member in the Broadway Company of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" and "Gem of the Ocean."

Hamilton earned the Ovation nomination for best actress for her work in Athol Fugard's play "Valley Song", at the Mark Taper Theatre in Los Angeles. For this performance she earned an Obie Award, the Clarence Derwent Award and a Drama Desk nomination. She was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and won her second OBIE Award for her role as Suzanne Alexander in Adrienne Kennedy's "The Ohio State Murders".

Hamilton's film credits include; "The Truth About Charlie" and "Beloved" for director Jonathan Demme, Clint Eastwood's "True Crime", the independent films; "Palookaville", "Drunks", Showtime's "A House Divided", Ophelia in director Campbell Scott's film version of "Hamlet", "Ten Tiny Love Stories" and "Nine Lives," for director Rodrigo Garcia, "Honey Dripper" directed by John Sayles and "The Soloist", directed by Joe Wright due out in November.

She co-starred for seven years on the Emmy Award winning series "The Practice." Ms Hamilton made her prime-time directorial debut on "The Practice."

Ms. Hamilton wrote and directed (Co-produced with Jonathan Demme) the documentary "BEAH: A Black Woman Speaks" which premiered on HBO. "BEAH: A Black Woman Speaks" was the recipient of the; AFI Los Angeles Int'l. Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, Doc. Competition, Peabody Award, Miami Film Festival Audience Award and the FESPACO FILM FESTIVAL Paul Robeson Award.


Short filmography

Actress:
* Nine Lives (2005)
* The Practice (TV, 1997-2003)
* The Sum of All Fears (2002)
* The Truth About Charlie (2002, by Jonathan Demme)
* True Crime (1999, by Clint Eastwood)
* Beloved (1998, by Jonathan Demme)
* Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
* Jackie Brown (1997, by Quentin Tarantino)
* Twelve Monkeys (1995, by Terry Gilliam)
* Naked in New York (1993)
* Reversal of Fortune (1990, by Barbet Schroeder)
* Krush Groove (1985)

Director:
* Beah: A Black Woman Speaks' (2003)'



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