Shirley Jo Finney (14 July 1949 – 10 October 2023) was an American actress and theater director. She graduated from the American Film Institute in 1989. She had the lead role in the 1977 biopic Wilma about athlete Wilma Rudolph.
Finney worked with The Fountain Theatre for many years and directed eight productions over the years. She also directed plays at the Mark Taper Forum, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Humana Festival. Her work earned her recognition from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, the Ovation Awards and the NAACP.
Finney died of cancer in Los Angeles, on 10 October 2023, at the age of 74.
Filmography
Temperatures Rising (1973) Police Woman (1974) Police Story (1974) Nashville Girl (1976) The River Niger (1976) The Blue Knight (1976) (1977) Mork & Mindy (1979) Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) Lou Grant (1980) Hey Good Lookin' (1982) Echo Park (1986) Hill Street Blues (1986) Amen (1987) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1987) Nuts (1987) Moving (1988) Night Court (1989) CBS Schoolbreak Special (1990) Where I Live (1993)