Born the middle child[citation needed] in Chicago, Illinois,[1] to working-class parents, Laverne Scott grew up in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side.

[citation needed] Her class went to see a performance of A Day of Absence, featuring Douglas Turner Ward, a co-founder of The Negro Ensemble Company.

She transferred her credits to Loyola University-Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in Theater Arts and Communications.

[1] Caldwell planned on a teaching career and taught at Chicago High School of the Performing Arts.

In December 1984, while working in A Play of Giants, Caldwell was struck by a car while hailing a cab on Columbus Avenue in New York.

After Proposals closed Caldwell performed the role of Leah, Little Augie's sister, in New York City Center's "Encores!

In 2011, she took on the role of Lena Younger in the Ebony Repertory Theatre production of the Lorraine Hansberry classic A Raisin in the Sun.

Caldwell is an active member of Unite For Strength, the Screen Actors Guild coalition in favor of joining with AFTRA.

She served on the Seniors, Legislative, Women, Holiday Host, Honors and Tributes, and EEOC committees.

Caldwell completed her husband's final film, My Brothers and Me, a documentary created to raise awareness about prostate cancer among black men.

In February 2010, she directed a staged reading of Standing On My Sisters' Shoulders for the Los Angeles chapter of Actors Equity Association.