Carlease Burke

Carlease Burke is an American actor who was born in New York City and grew up in Hollis, Queens. She studied pre-law at City College of New York, performed in Off-Broadway shows, and then moved west and joined The Fantasy Theatre. Her first television credit was a recurring part on The Young and the Restless, and she went on to guest roles on series including Castle, The Mindy Project, Hot in Cleveland, NCIS, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, Malcolm in the Middle and How I Met Your Mother. Her films include Get Shorty (1995), The Terminal (2004) with Tom Hanks, and In Her Shoes (2005), where she appeared opposite Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. She drew on her American Sign Language knowledge to play Principal Jennifer Kramer in the television movie Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008), and her turn as the Nurse in a Boston Court production of Romeo & Juliet earned her an NAACP Best Supporting Actress nomination.