SR0733 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0733 LRB100 13512 MST 28130 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Nelsan Ellis, who passed away on July 8, 2017; and

WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis was born in Harvey on November 30, 1977 and moved to Bessemer, Alabama at the age of six; he returned to Illinois at the age of 14, where he attended Thornridge High School in Dolton; in 2004, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Juilliard's prestigious drama division; and

WHEREAS, While at Juilliard, Nelsan Ellis wrote a semi-autobiographical play entitled "Ugly", which was performed at Juilliard and earned him a Martin E. Segal Award from the Lincoln Center; and

WHEREAS, In 2007, Nelsan Ellis was cast as Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series, "True Blood", a widely popular show that ran for seven seasons and 80 episodes; and

WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis's numerous other roles included Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Lee Daniels' The Butler" and Bobby Byrd, a longtime friend of James Brown, in the biographical drama, "Get on Up"; he also held roles in "The Soloist", "Secretariat", "The Help", "The Stanford Prison Experiment", and the CBS detective series, "Elementary"; and

WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis won numerous awards for his work as an actor, and was nominated for many more; he won a Satellite Award from the International Press Academy in 2008; his nominations include a Scream Award from Spike TV in 2009, an NAACP Image Award in 2011 and 2012, and a Black Reel Award from the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film in 2015; and

WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis is survived by his son, grandmother, father, and seven siblings; and

WHEREAS, Nelsan Ellis was an acclaimed actor and playwright and a loving father and friend who will be missed by all; his death was met with an overwhelming outpouring of condolences from friends and fans around the world; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of Nelsan Ellis, and recognize his great contributions to the film and television industries; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Nelsan Ellis with our sincerest condolences.