Tembi Locke
Tembi Locke | |
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![]() Locke in 2013 | |
Born | Tembekile Locke July 26, 1970 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1994–present |
Children | 1 |
Tembekile "Tembi" Locke (born July 26, 1970) is an American actress who has appeared in television shows and film. She is best known as Dr. Grace Monroe on Syfy's series Eureka and as Dr. Diana Davis in Sliders and has appeared in such shows as The Mentalist, Castle and Bones.
Life and career[]
Born to civil rights activist parents, she attended Alief Hastings High School in Houston. After high school, Locke lived for a time in Italy on a foreign exchange program. While there, she appeared several times on Italian television, including the Carnivale Di Venez.[1] After returning to the United States, she graduated with an art history degree from Wesleyan University, in Connecticut. She speaks fluent Italian.[2]
After college, Locke moved to New York City, where she worked on the CBS serial drama As the World Turns, while attending school during the day and waiting tables at night. She studied at Circle in the Square with William Esper.[citation needed] Locke and her husband, Rosario "Saro" Gullo, a Sicilian chef, lived and worked in Los Angeles, California. Her husband died in 2012. They have one daughter named Zoela who was 7 at the time of her father's death. She is a vegetarian, and urban homesteader, regularly growing produce on vacant lots in the city.[2] Locke is a gourmet cook, and also enjoys hiking, running and fishing.[1] She is involved in several social activism programs.[2]
Career[]
While in New York, Locke appeared in several off-Broadway productions, and landed a role on the long-running soap opera As The World Turns. Afterward, she moved to Los Angeles. Her prime-time television career began by playing one of Will Smith's love interests on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Locke has appeared in numerous television dramas, comedies, and films over the course of her career. She played Dr. Grace Monroe, a biotech specialist, on seasons four and five of Syfy's series EUReKA (2010–2012). She also starred as Dr. Diana Davis on season five of the Fox/Syfy show Sliders (1999–2000).
Locke's television work includes shows such as Castle, Bones, The Mentalist, Windfall, CSI: NY, and Beverly Hills, 90210. Her comedic turns include Friends, The Jamie Foxx Show, House of Payne, Like Family, and Raising Dad, among others. She has appeared in a number of movies made for television, including Black Widow, Final Approach and Born in the USA.
While her body of work involves mainly episodic television as well as several made-for-TV movies, she has worked in more than 50 American television ad campaigns.[citation needed] In 2014, Locke appeared as Dr. Walcott in Dumb and Dumber To.
As of October 2018, her most recent work is in the second installment of Hulu original "Into the Dark" series. She plays the therapist in the episode Flesh & Blood.
Locke's memoir, From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home (published April 30, 2019), is about her transracial romance with her Italian husband and her grief after his untimely death. From Scratch was later adapted by producer Reese Witherspoon and writer Marguerite MacIntyre into a limited series starring Zoe Saldana for Hello Sunshine, 3 Arts, Cinestar and Netflix. [3]
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Valerie Johnson | Episode: ″Grumpy Young Men″ |
1995 | Hangin' with Mr. Cooper | Mindy | Episode: “One Is the Loneliest Number” |
1995 | Me and the Boys | Sheryl | Episode: “The Age of Reason” |
1995 | Night Stand | Fran | Episode: ″Athletes as Role Models” |
1995-1996 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Lisa Dixon | Recurring (Season 6) |
1996 | Martin | Linda Livingston | Episode: “Kicked to the Curb” |
1996 | In the Fold | Ens. Meg Dundee | TV Movie |
1996 | In the House | Shanna | Episodes: “One Love″, “This is a Test” |
1996 | Ringer | Neely | Film |
1997 | Claude’s Crib | Kaylene | Main (Season 1) |
1997 | Steel | Norma | Film |
1997 | Hitz | Lisa | Episode: “Pilot” |
1997 | The Wayans Bros. | Donna | Episode: “Pops’ Daughter” |
1997-1998 | Michael Hayes | Gina | Episodes: “True Blue”, “Vaughn Mower” |
1998 | The Jamie Foxx Show | Monique | Episode: “Guess Who’s Not Coming to Dinner?″ |
1999 | Friends | Karin | Episode: “The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel” |
1999 | Unbowed | Cleola | Film |
1999-2000 | Sliders | Dr. Diana Davis | Main (Season 5) |
2000 | Bull | Episodes: “One Night in Bangkok”, “In the Black” | |
2000 | The Hughleys | Myisha | Episode: “Darryl’s Victory Tour” |
2001 | Blind Men | Bonnie Edwards | TV Movie |
2001-2002 | Raising Dad | Vice Principal Liz Taylor | Recurring (Season 1) |
2002 | One on One | Dr. Tiddlehorn | Episode: “Misery” |
2002 | Prep | Bonnie Edwards | TV Movie |
2003 | Touched by an Angel | Amanda | Episode: “And a Nightingale Sang” |
2003 | Art of Revenge | Isabel ‘Izzy’ Bloom | Video |
2003 | The Division | Nora Lowell AKA Vick | Episode: “Misdirection” |
2003 | Eve | Cammie | Episode: “The Talk” |
2004 | Like Family | Ethel | Recurring (Season 1) |
2004 | The Bernie Mac Show | Mrs. Melanie Diggs | Episode: “Thanksgiving” |
2004 | Quintuplets | Jill | Episode: “(Disdainfully) the Helbergs” |
2005 | Unscripted | Olivia Ross | Episodes “Episode #1.8”, “Episode #1.10” |
2006 | CSI: NY | Ellen Fielding | Episode: “Charge of the Post” |
2006 | Windfall | Addie Townsend | Recurring (Season 1) |
2007 | The ½ Hour News Hour | Bonnie Edwards | Episode: “Town Hall: Identity Politics” |
2007 | Born in the USA | Bonnie Edwards | TV Movie |
2007 | Final Approach | Jackie Reynolds | TV Movie |
2007 | Shooter | Claire Hopkins | TV series |
2008 | Black Widow | Jill Keegan | TV Movie |
2008 | House of Payne | Lisa | Episode: “Compromising Positions” |
2009 | The Mentalist | Marshal Christy Knox | Episode: “Red Sauce” |
2010 | Words Unspoken | Nurse Euphoria Mayes | Short |
2010 | Bones | Marilyn Stoddard | Episode: “The Predator in the Pool” |
2010-2012 | Eureka | Grace Monroe | Main (Seasons 4-5) |
2011 | Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star | Bonnie Edwards | Film |
2012 | Castle | Beth Cabot | Episode: “Secret Santa” |
2014 | Dumb and Dumber To | Dr. Katie Walcott | Film |
2014 | NCIS | Alice Kent Staley | Episode: “The Searchers” |
2015 | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | Doctor Tembi Blaine | Episode: “My First Thanksgiving with Josh!” |
2015-2016 | The Magicians | Dr. Jennifer London | Episodes: “Unauthorized Magic”, “The World in the Walls” |
2016 | 12 Deadly Days | Bonnie Edwards | Mini Series |
2017 | Private Dick | Judy | Mini Series |
2017 | Doubt | Iris Taylor | Episode: “Finally” |
2017 | Animal Kingdom | Monica | Episodes: “Karma”, “Bleed for It” |
2017 | The Climb | Babe | TV Movie |
2017 | S.W.A.T. | Trisha Watson | Episode: “Imposters” |
2017-2018 | NCIS: Los Angeles | Leigha Winters | Episodes: “Mountebank”, “Vendetta” |
2018 | Collusions | Regina Thomason | Film |
2018 | Into the Dark | Dr. Helen Saunders | Episode: “Flesh & Blood” |
2019 | Proven Innocent | Vanessa Dale | Episodes: “A Minor Confession”, “Living and Dying in East Cleveland” |
2019 | The Obituary of Tunde Johnson | Yomi Johnson | Film |
References[]
External links[]
- 1970 births
- Living people
- American television actresses
- Actresses from Houston
- Wesleyan University alumni
- African-American actresses
- American film actresses
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses