Career Highlights
- American Violet is based on a true story about a young African-American woman, Dee Roberts, who chooses to risk everything and fight the unyielding criminal justice system of Texas in 2000
- Up and coming actress Nicole Beharie plays the lead character Dee Roberts in American Violet
- Nicole Beharie is a recent graduated of The Juilliard School in New York
- Producer and writer, Bill Haney, is the winner of the 2007 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award for the documentary The Price of Sugar
- Bill's other works include the documentary A Life Among Whales, Accelerating America and The Legend of Lucy Keyes
Nicole Beharie graduated from The Julliard School’s acting program and landed her first role in the movie The Express, a drama based on the life of Ernie Davis, the first African-American recipient of the Heisman Trophy. But her first starring role came in American Violet, the true story about a young African American woman, Dee Roberts (Beharie), who chooses to risk everything and fight the unyielding criminal justice system of Texas in 2000. Beharie received a grant for her next project from The Annenberg Foundation, a one-woman play she is developing herself.
Bill Haney, writer and producer of the film, is the winner of the 2007 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award for the documentary The Price of Sugar. Haney's other works include the documentary A Life Among Whales, Accelerating America and The Legend of Lucy Keyes.
Producer and Writer Bill Haney and Actress Nicole Beharie sat down with ThinkTalk's Nellie Yangmie to discuss the film American Violet and answer some questions from students. The writer and producer gave career advice on screenwriting, while Nicole discussed her transition from a Julliard student to a full-time actress. This interview was originally filmed in Spring of 2009
