During her career, Elise has appeared in films such as John Q., The Manchurian Candidate, and The Great Debaters, all alongside Denzel Washington; Diary of a Mad Black Woman and For Colored Girls, both directed by Tyler Perry; as well as Dope, Almost Christmas, Death Wish, and Ad Astra.

She attended The American Film Institute as a Directing Fellow and at the University of Minnesota earned a BA in Mass Communications.

[3] Elise made her big screen debut in the 1996 crime action film Set It Off (1996) directed by F. Gary Gray, in which she played one of four women who resort to robbing a bank for money.

She received critical acclaim for her role in this film,[5] and in 1997, she was recognized as Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries at the 19th annual CableACE Awards.

Her performance helped her land a role the next year in Beloved alongside Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover, a horror-drama film based on Toni Morrison's 1987 novel of the same name, directed by Jonathan Demme.

[7] Later that year, she was female lead in Jamie Foxx's movie Bait, the film was a huge financial failure,[8] and received mostly negative reviews from critics.

In 2002–2003, she made guest appearances on the UPN comedy series Girlfriends in which she played an HIV-positive woman, and in the Showtime drama Soul Food.

In 2005, Elise went to star in the comedy drama film Diary of a Mad Black Woman written by Tyler Perry and directed by Darren Grant.

From 2005 to 2007, Elise starred in the CBS crime drama series Close to Home, playing the Marion County, Indiana (Indianapolis) prosecutor Maureen Scofield.

First was Pride opposite Terrence Howard based upon the true story of Philadelphia swim coach Jim Ellis.

The film is based on Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, and was written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry.

[17] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly comments: "The female cast is great, with especially fierce performances from Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Phylicia Rashad, and Anika Noni Rose.

But stuck in a flailing production that might just as well invite Perry's signature drag creation Madea to the block party, the actors' earnest work isn't enuf.