Lynnie Godfrey

Caroline "Lynnie" Godfrey was born in 1952 in New York City and works as an actress, singer, author, director, and producer. She grew up singing in Pentecostal churches in Harlem and Brooklyn alongside her mother and other family members. As a child, she attended The Modern School, a private institution for Black children in Harlem's Sugar Hill neighborhood, founded by Mildred Johnson, whose uncle, James Weldon Johnson, wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Godfrey later enrolled at George Washington High School in Washington Heights, an institution whose alumni include Harry Belafonte, Henry Kissinger, and Ron Perlman. She also studied voice at the Northern Vocal Arts School at Carnegie Hall under Dr. Chauncy Northern, one of the first Black opera singers to perform on the Italian stage. Godfrey attended Hampton University, Northern's alma mater, for one year before transferring to Hunter College in New York City, where she studied with Lloyd Richards and began auditioning for professional work.

Following her college years, Godfrey performed in both theatrical productions and nightclubs, including the new Cotton Club. Early stage work included the role of Elaine in Christopher Durang's The Nature and Purpose of the Universe and the title role in Mama Liberty's Bicentennial Party, a street theatre production for children presented by Theatre for the New City. In February 1978, she appeared in a musical showcase of Shuffle Along alongside Dabriah Chapman, Vernon Spencer, and Roger Lawson. That production led directly to her involvement in Eubie!, a musical revue based on the life and work of composer Eubie Blake, who had collaborated with Noble Sissle on the original Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals written and directed by African Americans. Eubie! moved to Broadway's Ambassador Theatre in September 1978, marking Godfrey's Broadway debut. Her performance featured several Eubie Blake compositions, including "Daddy, Won't You Please Come Home?," "I'm Cravin' for That Kind of Love," and "I'm Just Wild About Harry." The original cast included Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines, Alaina Reed, Janet Powell, Marion Ramsey, Ethel Beatty, Terry Burrell, Leslie Dockery, Lonnie McNeil, Jeffery V. Thompson, and Melvin Johnson Jr. For her work in the production, Godfrey received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical in 1979. She also recorded the original Broadway cast album of Eubie!, released on Warner Bros.

Beyond Broadway, Godfrey originated the role of the Snow Queen, which she has performed at venues including the Prince Music Theatre, New York State Theatre Institute, the Unicorn Theatre, and the West End in London. She was among the first women of color cast in the roles of Lola in Damn Yankees, which she performed at Hartford Stage Company, and Jenny Diver in Three Penny Opera at the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts. Additional stage credits span a wide range of productions and institutions, including Gem of the Ocean as Aunt Esther at Arena Stage, The Dispute at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Let My People Come as Narrator and Harriet Tubman at the Kennedy Center, Ain't Misbehavin' in both regional productions and a national tour, and A, My Name Is Alice as part of the original cast at the American Place Theatre. She has also appeared in Sweet Charity, The Desert Song, Ragtime Blues, and the pre-Broadway production of '39, among many others.

Godfrey's television credits include 704 Hauser, a Norman Lear sitcom conceived as an African American spinoff to All in the Family, as well as Civil Wars, Brewster Place, LA Law, Amen, 227, thirtysomething, Cop Rock, Frank's Place, and Living Dolls, among others. Her film work includes V.I. Warshawski for Disney Films and the independent productions Enemy Territory and Women Without Implants. She is also a member of the Negro Actors Guild of America.

In 2002, Godfrey founded Godlee Entertainment, a production company focused on nurturing emerging playwrights and developing new work. She serves as Producing Artistic Director of The Essence of Acting, a New York City-based group created to support aspiring African American actors. She has directed, produced, and performed in Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed, a play by Celeste Bedford Walker chronicling the 1921 destruction of Greenwood, a prosperous Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as "Negro Wall Street," which was burned by a white mob over two days. Godfrey has produced the play at the New York Theatre Workshop, the University of Delaware, the Theatre Institute at Sage in Troy, New York, and ArtsQuest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her directing credits also include To Be Young, Gifted and Black at Theatre-Off Park and Waves of America at the Empire State Institute of Performing Arts. In 2016, Blue Heron Book Works published her book, Sharing Lessons Learned While Seeking the Spotlight. In 2023, Godfrey became president of the League of Professional Theatre Women, a multidisciplinary membership organization for professional women working in theater.

Among her additional honors are an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play, an NAACP Image Award for Best Producer, an Audelco Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, a Dramalogue Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre Performance, and a Tyrone Guthrie Award for Excellence in the Area of Directing. Godfrey married Carl Lee in 1979; the couple was introduced by Gregory Hines, who served as best man at their wedding.