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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Nelsan Ellis, who passed away on July 8,
42017; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis was born in Harvey on November 30,
61977 and moved to Bessemer, Alabama at the age of six; he
7returned to Illinois at the age of 14, where he attended
8Thornridge High School in Dolton; in 2004, he earned a Bachelor
9of Fine Arts degree from Juilliard's prestigious drama
10division; and
 
11    WHEREAS, While at Juilliard, Nelsan Ellis wrote a
12semi-autobiographical play entitled "Ugly", which was
13performed at Juilliard and earned him a Martin E. Segal Award
14from the Lincoln Center; and
 
15    WHEREAS, In 2007, Nelsan Ellis was cast as Lafayette
16Reynolds in the HBO series, "True Blood", a widely popular show
17that ran for seven seasons and 80 episodes; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis's numerous other roles included
19Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Lee Daniels' The Butler" and Bobby
20Byrd, a longtime friend of James Brown, in the biographical
21drama, "Get on Up"; he also held roles in "The Soloist",

 

 

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1"Secretariat", "The Help", "The Stanford Prison Experiment",
2and the CBS detective series, "Elementary"; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis won numerous awards for his work as
4an actor, and was nominated for many more; he won a Satellite
5Award from the International Press Academy in 2008; his
6nominations include a Scream Award from Spike TV in 2009, an
7NAACP Image Award in 2011 and 2012, and a Black Reel Award from
8the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in
9Film in 2015; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis is survived by his son, grandmother,
11father, and seven siblings; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis was an acclaimed actor and playwright
13and a loving father and friend who will be missed by all; his
14death was met with an overwhelming outpouring of condolences
15from friends and fans around the world; therefore, be it
 
16    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
17ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of
18Nelsan Ellis, and recognize his great contributions to the film
19and television industries; and be it further
 
20    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
21presented to the family of Nelsan Ellis with our sincerest

 

 

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1condolences.