Kimberly Hébert Gregory
Born	Kimberly Rochelle Hébert (1972-12-07)December 7, 1972 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Died	October 3, 2025(2025-10-03) (aged 52)
Education	Mount Holyoke College (BA) DePaul University (attended) University of Chicago (MSW)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–2025
Spouse	Chester Gregory (divorced)[1]
Children	1[1]

Kimberly Rochelle Hébert Gregory (néeHébert; December 7, 1972 – October 3, 2025) was an American actress. She began her career in theatre, appearing in such plays asTarell Alvin McCraney's triptych,The Brother/Sister Plays, produced in 2009 at New York's The Public,^[2] and many others, before her breakthrough role as Dr. Belinda Brown in theHBO comedy seriesVice Principals in 2016. She also voiced Nicole Williams inCraig of the Creek.^[3]

Kimberly Hébert was born on December 7, 1972, in Houston,^[4] the youngest of three. She graduated fromThe High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in her native Houston. She received a BA in psychology fromMount Holyoke College in 1994, spent a term atThe Theatre School at DePaul University for an MFA in acting, and earned a master's insocial work from theSchool of Social Service Administration at theUniversity of Chicago in 2002.^[5]

Acting for the theater was Kimbery Hébert Gregory’s first love, if not her life partner, as she jokingly explained during a 2017 appearance on New York’s “Build Series.”^[6] After graduating from Mount Holyoke in 1994, Hébert Gregory moved to Chicago to attend Depaul's Theatre School and starred in a number of Chicago Theatre Company productions in the late 1990s, including McKinley Johnson’sTrain is Comin' in 1996 and a theater adaptation of Walter Mosley'sA Red Death in 1997.^[7][8] For her performance as "Daughter" in The Chicago Theatre Company's production of Shay Youngblood'sShakin' the Mess Outta Misery, she earned a Black Theatre Alliance Award and was nominated for a 1998 Equity BranchJeff Award.^{[9][10][11][12]} The actor went on to play Ida Jackson inJames Baldwin'sThe Amen Corner for the 2001–2002 season at theGoodman Theatre, also appearing that year as Zerbinette in the Court Theatre's production of Moliére'sScapin.^[9][13] Hébert Gregory was selected to participate in the 2006 Sundance Institute Theatre Laboratory (founded in 1969 byRobert Redford).^[14] Other roles included a part in Filloux, McCraney, and Sutton’sThe Breach in 2008; Sadie in Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder's gospel playGee's Bend at the Hartford Stage in 2010; Charmian in Shakespeare’sAntony and Cleopatra in 2010; Lanford Wilson’sThe Hot L Baltimore at Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre in Chicago in 2011;  Lisa Kron’sThe Ver**zon Play at The Public in 2011; and Aunt Elegua/Shun inTarell Alvin McCraney'sBrother/Sister Plays in New York between 2009 and 2011, with a reprisal of the role in LA in 2012.^{[15][16][17][18]}

In 2012, Hébert Gregory was nominated for theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and a Lucille Lotrel award for her performance oppositeSanaa Lathan inBy The Way, Meet Vera Stark.^[19][20]

Her theatre acting work did not end there. Among others, in 2013, she appeared inGoddess, by Mkhululi Mabija and Michael Thurber at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center; in 2016, she featured in Robert O'Hara'sBarbecue, directed by Colman Domingo at LA's Geffen Playhouse; in 2019, she appeared inBlack Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galván at the Geffen; and in 2020, she contributedThe Homebound Project in work by Loy A. Webb.^[21][22][23] During her 2017 appearance on Build Series, the actor said she would always welcome theatre acting opportunities.^[6]

Hébert Gregory founded the theater non-profit, theBlack Rebirth Collective (BRC), in 2017. According to its founder, the BRC was created to provide “a safe space” for Black women in the arts “to hone their skill” while necessarily taking the risks required to build “self-confidence in the work and in the failure.”^[24] The creative workshop and “gymnasium” has collaborated with the Geffen Playhouse to stage theatrical works written, read, and reworked within the BRC creativity hub, the “Be Real Incubator,” includingKatori Hall’sThe Mountaintop. Hébert Gregory also asserted that the BRC is “interrogating the kind of Black female images that we have long seen in theater, film, [and] television,”^[24] and was herself incubating a piece working withSong of Solomon, the early novel by one of her most revered creators,Toni Morrison.^[25]

Hébert Gregory's first film role was in Chris Rock's romantic comedyI Think I Love My Wife (2007), after which she appeared in Spike Lee'sRed Hook Summer (2012), Viviana Leo'sWhite Alligator (2012), andThe Genesis of Lincoln (never released). She first appeared on the smaller screen in the late 1990s in the CBS comedyEarly Edition, going on to guest star onGossip Girl,Law & Order,Grey's Anatomy,Private Practice,Two and a Half Men, andThe Big Bang Theory.^{[9][26][27][28]} In 2014, she had a recurring role as Lucinda Miller in theLifetime comedy-drama series,Devious Maids.^[29] In 2016, she starred as series regular Dr. Belinda Brown in theHBO comedy seriesVice Principals, oppositeDanny McBride.^[30] In September 2016, trade publicationTheWrap described Hébert Gregory as the show's "breakout star."^[3]

In early 2017, she was cast oppositeToni Collette in the ABC action comedy-drama pilotUnit Zero produced byKenya Barris, although ABC later declined to produce the series.^[31] She had recurring roles inBrooklyn Nine-Nine andBetter Call Saul. Later in 2017, Hébert Gregory was cast in a female leading role in the ABC comedy-dramaKevin (Probably) Saves the World.^[32][33]

That same year, Hébert Gregory was cast on theCartoon Network animated seriesCraig of the Creek, in which she had a starring role as Nicole Williams, the mother of the titular character. She also appeared in the 2023 spinoffJessica's Big Little World^[34] and the 2023 prequel filmCraig Before the Creek.^[35]

Hébert Gregory later appeared onThe Act,The Chi andAll Rise.^[28] In 2019, she co-starred in the romantic drama filmFive Feet Apart.^[36]

In 2019, Hébert Gregory got the opportunity to work with sister Mount Holyoke college alum,Suzan-Lori Parks, who served as showrunner for the National Geographic anthology seriesGenius: Aretha, starringCynthia Erivo. Hébert Gregory was cast as talent agentRuth Jean Baskerville Bowen.^[37] In 2023, for the Netflix original animated limited seriesCarol & the End of the World, she voiced the titular character's bestie.^[38]

Hébert Gregory married fellow Chicago actor,Chester Gregory, with whom she had a son; the couple later divorced.^[1] Her death on October 3, 2025, was confirmed by herVice Principals co-starWalton Goggins, who paid tribute to her on hisInstagram account.^[39][27]

• Kimberly Hébert Gregory atIMDb

• 1972 births
• 2025 deaths
• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• Actresses from Houston
• 20th-century African-American actresses
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century African-American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• American stage actresses
• Mount Holyoke College alumni
• University of Chicago alumni

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