American actress Regina Hall was born on December 12, 1970 in Washington, D.C. She studied at the New York University, eventually graduating with a master’s degree in journalism in 1997, but later decided to pursue an acting career. After appearing in some television commercials, she took a recurring role in the daytime soap Loving, and later, several guest appearances on the crime drama New York Undercover. She made her film debut in 1999, when she played a supporting role in the award-winning film The Best Man.
Hall, however, gained wide recognition when she joined the cast of the film Scary Movie. The comedy-horror parody, which was released in 2000, saw her play Brenda Meeks, a “tough girl” slash ghetto character that gets killed at the end of the film. Despite that, however, she starred in the film’s three other sequels—released in 2002, 2003 and 2006—and suffered the same fate in each. She is only one of two characters to appear in all movies, the other being Anna Faris.
In 2001, Hall joined the cast of the hit series Ally McBeal. Originally a recurring role, her character—Coretta Lipp—became a regular cast member from the fifth season. This role also earned her a nomination from the NAACP Image Awards in 2003. Aside from this, however, most of Hall’s acting credits were on the big screen. Apart from the Scary Movie series, her films include Love & Basketball, The Other Brother, Malibu’s Most Wanted, King’s Ransom, The Honeymooners, The Elder Son and First Sunday. Her performance in the independent film Danika won her an award from the San Diego Film Festival in 2006.
-It's definitely different in the industry for a Black woman. I always beg my agents to start pitching me as a white man. And they say, 'Okay, we'll try.' When they were making all those karate movies like 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,' I was like, 'Make me an Asian man.'