Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends
From childhood dreams of Hollywood to an award-winning acting career
April 7, 2026
Loretta Devine, MFA’76, receives 2026 Alumni Achievement Award
Loretta Devine, MFA’76, was destined to become an entertainer. Her mother named her after the late award-winning actress Loretta Young. One of six children, Devine was encouraged to perform by her mother as well. So she played secondhand instruments (including a trombone), sang in the choir, read poetry, and acted in school plays. As an exuberant tyke, she even was scolded in church one day for showing off and declaring she would be a television star.
Devine would go on to achieve her childhood dream and more. With nearly five decades of work under her belt, Devine has earned more than 300 Broadway, film, and television acting credits.
Among these roles, she starred in the original production of the Tony-award-winning Broadway musical “Dreamgirls.” She starred alongside Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Lela Rochan in “Waiting to Exhale,” one of the first films with an all Black female cast to attain top box-office success. She also won an NAACP Image Award for her performance.
As for her childhood aspirations of becoming a TV star, more than 160 of her roles have been on television series. Some of the more well-known shows include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Boston Public,” and the animated children’s series “Doc McStuffins.” She won NAACP Image Awards for all three performances (she has won 10 overall) and an Emmy for her work on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Devine has won numerous other awards, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the NAACP Theatre Awards and the Pan African Film Festival as well as a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation and a Vanguard Award from Hollywood Confidential.
Over the years, Devine also has advocated for and supported various causes and foundations associated with diabetes, health, and the creative arts. In 2024, she participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Brandeis Alumni Arts Network in Los Angeles, during which participants reflected on their journeys from Brandeis to stardom.
In recognition of these accomplishments, Brandeis has awarded Devine with a 2026 Alumni Achievement Award, given to distinguished alumni for outstanding contributions in their fields and to society more broadly. This year’s winners also include Sheila Efron Taube, Ph.D., ’63, P’89, a pioneer in cancer research, and Jeffrey Lurie, Heller Ph.D.’87, NFL team owner and business executive.
Devine studied speech and drama as an undergraduate at the University of Houston, and she also worked as the artistic director at a Black arts center. At this stage of her life, Devine considered becoming a teacher. “We taught troubled kids from all of the surrounding high schools. We did everything for that theater. We made costumes. We wrote scripts. We got the props,” she said. “Then one of the teachers was killed in an accident. The loss prompted me to really think about my life and whether I wanted to follow my dream of being an actress or become a teacher.”
She decided to further pursue her acting aspirations, and an advisor recommended she consider Brandeis for graduate study. In a way, attending Brandeis was her destiny as well. On the way to Brandeis for her audition, Devine’s plane was delayed, and she didn’t think she would make it to campus on time. As it turns out, Charlie Moore, the late chair of the Theater Department, was at Logan airport on his way out of town. The two met and Devine did her audition right then and there.
“I’ll never forget it. I did this scene about a woman trying to persuade a man not to leave her. It was this older white guy and this young Black girl who was on her knees begging, ‘Don’t leave me.’ I hope he didn’t let me in simply because he was embarrassed,” she said with a laugh.
Devine credits her time at Brandeis with helping her develop a strong work ethic, gain confidence, and better understand character development. These traits came from her studies but also her job as a residence hall director.
“I was very introverted and shy. But I could sing. I sang in church my whole life, so I had this big voice that I could use to impress people. I learned how to use that, which became important when I was working in New York. I learned how to do a lot of things and deal with people, which also helped me add flavor to my characters,” she said. “We were taught everything by all these incredible people. They made it seem like it was a very important thing that we were doing, and it was absolutely going to change our lives. It gave me a great amount of confidence.”
Despite some fairly dramatic changes in her industry over the years, including the advent of streaming networks and artificial intelligence, Devine still works regularly. Her advice to up-and-coming actors? To start, learn how to bounce back from rejection, and, when they do succeed, don’t get too cocky.
“A lot of people get a big head too soon. It’s not the kind of career where you can predict what’s going to happen. When you lose a role, know that you will run into the people who got the job you wanted. And you might have to watch them win awards and be praised for it. You have to be able to deal with this and keep going onto the next thing,” she said. “I think I’ve worked so much because I like working and I like people. The years go by fast when you love what you’re doing.”