Earlier in her career, Hawkins was a member of the
New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem. She was also involved with the
Play-House of the Ridiculous, with
John Vaccaro and
Ronald Tavel. Broadway credits for Hawkins included
James Baldwin's
The Amen Corner (1965),
Lolita (1981),
Checkmates (1988) and
The Shadow Box (1994). She was also busy
off-Broadway and in regional theatre, with a role in
The Last Street Play with
Morgan Freeman in 1977, in a touring company of
Ntozake Shange's
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf in 1978, and as
James McDaniel's mother in
Cheryl L. West's
Before It Hits Home in 1992, among many others. Hawkins appeared in films such as
Mighty Aphrodite (1995),
Zebrahead (1992),
Mississippi Masala (1991),
Lean on Me (1989), and
Nighthawks (1981). Her television acting credits ranged from soap operas
As the World Turns and
Guiding Light to dramas
Cagney & Lacey and
Law & Order. She was also in the cast of
Ghostwriter, a children's mystery series. She was credited as a writer on the
Children's Television Workshop health show ''Feelin' Good'' in the mid-1970s. ==Personal life==