When Film Life's Black Movie Awards are televised for the first time ever (Wednesday at 10 pm/ET, on TNT), one very special guest of honor will be Kimberly Elise, the Diary of a Mad Black Woman headliner who has been named this year's Rising Star. Elise, currently playing no-nonsense prosecutor Maureen Scofield on CBS' Close to Home (Tuesdays at 10 pm/ET), shared with TVGuide.com what it means to merit such kudos from her peers.
TVGuide.com: What was your reaction when you learned you'd be receiving the Rising Star award?Kimberly Elise: It was really overwhelming. I just sort of quietly do my work, so I was touched to see that people have seen it and respond to it and wanted to take a time-out to say that t
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Being a mom is hard. Being a lawyer is really hard. But apparently being a mom and a lawyer is like, the most monumentally difficult task ever attempted by a mere mortal. Annabeth Chase's first day back on the job after 12 weeks of maternity leave pits her against a mee-yow-worthy new boss (Diary of a Mad Black Woman's Kimberly Elise), a tabloid-making case of domestic abuse and the always-unfortunate need to pump breast milk at the office. And frankly, all three of those conundrums seemed to be tied up a little too easily by the end of the series premiere — that last one with a shiny red bow, no less. But I did find myself pleasantly surprised by Jennifer Finnigan's grit as a no-nonsense prosecutor; I didn't expect her to wield that much gravity after last season's cutesy comedy Committed, or even after living through the barrage of Close to Home promos all summer long during my thrice-weekly Big Brother fix, when I usually found i
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