This christmas cast
This Christmas is a 2007 American holiday comedy-drama about the Whitfield family. The cast is the actors who play that household. Nearby searches often mix in other films with similar titles.
How it works
You are looking up who is in the 2007 film This Christmas, written and directed by Preston A. Whitmore II and released by Screen Gems. The story gathers Ma’Dere Whitfield’s children in Los Angeles for the holiday. The title is borrowed from Donny Hathaway’s 1970 song “This Christmas.” The film is a watching plan. It does not move 25 December on the calendar.
The principal players are Loretta Devine as Shirley Ann “Ma’Dere” Whitfield; Delroy Lindo as Joe Black, her boyfriend; Idris Elba as Quentin Whitfield Jr., the eldest son; Regina King as Lisa Whitfield-Moore; Sharon Leal as Kelli Whitfield; Columbus Short as Claude Whitfield; Lauren London as Melanie Whitfield; and Chris Brown as Michael “Baby” Whitfield. Laz Alonso plays Lisa’s husband, Malcolm Moore. Jessica Stroup plays Sandi. Keith Robinson plays Melanie’s boyfriend. Mekhi Phifer plays Gerald. Will Packer produced the film with Whitmore.
Runtime, rating, and where to stream change with the edition and the year. This holiday page will not invent box-office figures or quote scenes as if they were records. If you want the names, the list above is the household. If you want the plot in detail, watch the film or read a synopsis on the copy you have. The cast list does not require a recap of every quarrel at the table.
The Whitfield household on screen
The film is an ensemble. Ma’Dere wants the children home. Each adult child arrives with a private problem, which is how this kind of Christmas story is built. Baby sings in church. Quentin has been away. The rest of the siblings fill the house. You do not need a chart to follow who is who if you listen for the names as they come in the door. Devine and Lindo sit as the older pair. The brothers and sisters are the middle of the film.
Loretta Devine — Shirley Ann “Ma’Dere” Whitfield Delroy Lindo — Joe Black Idris Elba — Quentin Whitfield Jr. Regina King — Lisa Whitfield-Moore Sharon Leal — Kelli Whitfield Columbus Short — Claude Whitfield
Lauren London — Melanie Whitfield Chris Brown — Michael “Baby” Whitfield Supporting faces include Lupe Ontiveros as Rosie. If a thumbnail shows a different older woman in a headwrap and a different comic tone, keep reading the title. That is how this search gets tangled with Madea. Confirm “This Christmas” and the Whitfield name, or confirm 2007 and Whitmore, before you press play on the wrong December.
When the search is a different Christmas
“Madea this Christmas cast” is almost always a mix-up with Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas, a 2013 comedy released by Lionsgate. Perry plays Mabel “Madea” Simmons. That film also stars Anna Maria Horsford, Tika Sumpter, Eric Lively, Kathy Najimy, Chad Michael Murray, Alicia Witt, Lisa Whelchel, and Larry the Cable Guy, among others. It is a separate picture, a separate household, and a separate year. It is not a sequel to the Whitfields and it does not share that 2007 cast.
“So this is Christmas” is another collision. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1971 song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” opens with the line “So this is Christmas.” There is also a 2024 documentary, So This Is Christmas, directed by Ken Wardrop, about people in a small Irish town at the feast. An earlier independent feature used the same title. None of those is the 2007 Screen Gems film. If you wanted Hathaway, Lennon, Madea, or Wardrop, say that name. If you wanted Idris Elba at a family table in 2007, you want This Christmas.
If Madea is in the thumbnail, you are not looking at the Whitfields. Pick the title, then pick the year, then look at the first three names. Devine, Lindo, Elba: 2007. Perry as Madea: 2013. A documentary in an Irish town: Wardrop. A song that starts with “So this is Christmas”: Lennon and Ono. The holiday on the calendar stays 25 December through all of them. Only the tape on the player changes.
Questions and answers
- Who is in the 2007 film This Christmas?
- Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, Regina King, Sharon Leal, Columbus Short, Lauren London, Chris Brown, Laz Alonso, Jessica Stroup, Keith Robinson, and Mekhi Phifer head the household and its close circle.
- Is A Madea Christmas the same film?
- No. A Madea Christmas is a 2013 Tyler Perry film with a different cast. Searches that join “Madea” and “this Christmas” are mixing two titles.
- What does “so this is Christmas” refer to if not the 2007 cast?
- Often the opening line of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” or a different film or documentary that used So This Is Christmas as a title.
Related guides
1 sep holiday
1 September is a public holiday only where a country named it one. The United States has no federal holiday on that date. Uzbekistan keeps Independence Day. Labor Day in 2026 was 7 September, not the
11th november holiday
The 11th November holiday is Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day, depending on the country. It is a fixed date, 11 November, not a floating Monday. Other November holidays sit on other day
12 dates of christmas
12 Dates of Christmas is a 2011 ABC Family television film in which a woman relives Christmas Eve until she treats people better. It is a time-loop rom-com, not a dating app.