Tembekile "Tembi" Locke is an American actress who has appeared in television shows and film. She is best known as Dr. Grace Monroe on Syfy's series Eureka and as Dr. Diana Davis in Sliders and has appeared in such shows as The Mentalist, Castle and Bones.
Life and Career
Born to civil rights activist parents, she attended Alief Hastings High School in Houston. After high school, Locke lived for a time in Italy on a foreign exchange program. While there, she appeared several times on Italian television, including the Carnivale Di Venez. After returning to the United States, she graduated with an art history degree from Wesleyan University, in Connecticut. She speaks fluent Italian. After college, Locke moved to New York City, where she worked on the CBS serial drama As the World Turns, while attending school during the day and waiting tables at night. She studied at Circle in the Square with William Esper. Locke and her husband, an Italian chef, live and work in Los Angeles, California. Her husband died in 2012. She is a vegetarian, and urban homesteader, regularly growing produce on vacant lots in the city. Locke is a gourmet cook, and also enjoys hiking, running and fishing. She is involved in several social activism programs.
Career
While in New York, Locke appeared in several off-Broadway productions, and landed a role on the long-running soap opera As The World Turns. Afterward, she moved to Los Angeles. Her prime-time television career began by playing one of Will Smith's love interests on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Locke has appeared in numerous television dramas, comedies, and films over the course of her career. She played Dr. Grace Monroe, a biotech specialist, on seasons four and five of Syfy's series EURKA. She also starred as Dr. Diana Davis on season five of the Fox/Syfy show Sliders. Locke's television work includes shows such as Castle, Bones, The Mentalist, Windfall, , and Beverly Hills, 90210. Her comedic turns include Friends, The Jamie Foxx Show, House of Payne, Like Family, and Raising Dad, among others. She has appeared in a number of movies made for television, including Black Widow, Final Approach and Born in the USA. While her body of work involves mainly episodic television as well as several made-for-TV movies, she has worked in more than 50 American television ad campaigns. In 2014, Locke appeared as Dr. Walcott in Dumb and Dumber To. As of October 2018, her most recent work is in the second installment of Hulu original "Into the Dark" series. She plays the therapist in the episode Flesh & Blood. Locke's memoir, From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home, is about her transracial romance with her Italian husband and her grief after his untimely death.
