She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Shug Avery in the period drama film The Color Purple (1985).

[1] Avery continued appearing in films like Blueberry Hill (1988), White Man's Burden (1995), Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008), Meet the Browns (2008), and Proud Mary (2018).

From 2013 to 2019, Avery starred as Helen Patterson, lead character's mother, in the BET drama series Being Mary Jane.

[7][8] In the television movie Something Evil (1972), a horror story with Sandy Dennis and Darren McGavin, Avery was directed by Steven Spielberg.

In the same year she made her theatrical motion picture debut as Lark in the crime film Cool Breeze with Thalmus Rasulala and Judy Pace.

The next year she played a prostitute in Magnum Force, the second in the series of Dirty Harry films starring Clint Eastwood, in which her character was murdered by her pimp.

The character was killed by pouring drain cleaner down the victim's throat, which was said to have inspired the notorious Hi-Fi murders case in Ogden, Utah in 1974.

In the 1977 film Which Way Is Up?, directed by Michael Schultz, Avery gave a comedic performance as Annie Mae, the wife of Richard Pryor's character.

Her performance in this screen adaptation of Alice Walker's prize-winning novel The Color Purple was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

At the time, most women of color who were in the business were limited to Black film; whereas my counterpart like Danny Glover, went on to Lethal Weapon One, Two, and Three.

She holds a master's in psychology degree from the Phillips Graduate University, and worked as a psychotherapist for the Los Angeles Unified School District.