Tina Andrews

About

Famous for penning the 2000 television miniseries Sally Hemings: An American Scandal, this writer and producer became the first African American recipient of the Writers Guild of America's Original Long Form Script Award.

Before Fame

After graduating from the theater program at New York University, she pursued a screen acting career. During the mid 1970s, she played the role of Valerie Grant on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives and the role of Aurelia on the popular ABC miniseries Roots.

Trivia

She wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film Why Do Fools Fall in Love? The movie was directed by Gregory Nava and starred Vivica A. Fox and Halle Berry. She also wrote several novels, including The Hollywood Dolls (published in 2009) and Charlotte Sophia: Myth, Madness and the Moor (2010).

Family Life

She grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and later married theater producer and filmmaker Stephen Gaines.

Associated With

She was mentored by fellow novelist and screenwriter Alex Haley; the two collaborated on a PBS miniseries titled Alex Haley's Great Men of African Descent.