(born 1949) Female actor and comedian who often has tackled issues of race and class. She gained screen prominence for her debut as the suffering Celie in The Color Purple (1985), although she won an Academy Award for Ghost (1990), the first black woman so honored since Hattie McDaniel (1939). She also served for several years as an acerbic and politicized emcee for the Academy Awards and developed a short-lived television talk show.