Jenifer Lewis
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
"My mother was a maid. For my mother to be able to see me on television as a judge is a beautiful thing." --Jenifer Lewis in Out, December 1995-January 1996.
"I have a hundred names on a list of people who have died of AIDS. And when you experienced that silent war, there's only room for action. I'm not comfortable with people around me who try. Because 100 people who I've known are dead, you should do." --Lewis in the Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1993.
Biography
Nicknamed the Black Mother of Hollywood, Jenifer Lewis played dozens of maternal figures during a prolific screen career, most notably Zelma Bullock in Tina Turner biopic "What's Love Got to Do With It" (1993) and Ruby Johnson in socially-conscious sitcom "Black-ish" (ABC, 2014-). Born in St. Louis, MO in 1957, Lewis studied theatre at Webster University before moving to New York to pursue a performing career. After making her Broadway debut in "Eabie," she was invited to join Bette Midler's backing band, The Staggering Harlettes, who performed with the star on various HBO specials and in "Beaches" (1988). Switching her focus to acting, Lewis played a judge in "Red Heat" (1988), back-up singer in "Sister Act" (1992) and college dean in "A Different World" (NBC, 1987-1993), and in 1991 joined "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" cast (NBC, 1990-96) as Aunt Helen. Her breakthrough came when she portrayed Tina Turner's real-life mother in "What's Love Got to Do With It" (1993). Lewis subsequently played maternal figures in "Poetic Justice" (1993), "The Meteor Man" (1993), "Panther" (1995), "Dead Presidents" (1995) and "The Preacher's Wife" (1996), but proved there was more to her talents when she became the first actress to play an African-American lesbian character in legal drama "Courthouse" (CBS, 1995). There were also memorable supporting roles as Whoopi Goldberg's sister in "Corrina, Corrina" (1994), sex line boss Lil in "Girl 6" (1996) and school principal Mrs. Addison in "The Mighty" (1998). After adding "An Unexpected Life" (1998), "Blast from the Past" (1999) and "Mystery Men" (1999) to her credits, she enjoyed a rare leading role in "Jackie's Back" (1999), a mockumentary about an aging soul diva's comeback attempt, played Tom Hanks' boss in "Cast Away" (2000) and voiced Bebe Ho in "The PJs" (Fox, 1999-2002). She landed her longest-recurring role when she was cast as receptionist Lana Hawkins in "Strong Medicine" (Lifetime, 2000-06). During her six-year stint on the medical drama she also performed the theme tune to, Lewis returned to motherly roles in "Little Richard" (2000), "The Brothers" (2001) and "Girlfriends" (UPN, 2002-08), and played aunts in "Juwanna Mann" (2002), "Antwone Fisher" (2002) and "Dirty Laundry" (2006). She also assumed the titular role in "Nora's Hair Salon" (2004) and voiced the Motown Turtle in "Shark Tale" and Flo in "Cars" (2006). Lewis then showed up in Tyler Perry's "Madea's Family Reunion" (2006) and "Meet the Browns" (2008), played mom in "Who's Your Caddy?" (2007), "Not Easily Broken" (2009), "Hereafter" (2010), "Think Like A Man" (2012) and "Baggage Claim" (2013), and voiced Mama Odie in "The Princess and the Frog" (2009) and Gogo in "Zambezia" (2012). There was also a recurring role as seamstress Pearl in "The Playboy Club" (NBC, 2011) and supporting parts in "Five" (2011), "Playin' for Love" (2013), "Secrets of the Magic City" (2014), "The Wedding Ringer" (2015) and "It Had To Be You" (2015). Lewis also became a regular prime-time face again when she was cast as Anthony Anderson's overbearing mother Ruby Johnson on "Black-ish" (ABC, 2014-).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Music (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1979
Made Broadway debut in "Eubie"
1984
Appeared in the music documentary "Bette Midler: Art or Bust"
1988
Film debut, "Beaches" starring Midler
1991
Played recurring role as Aunt Helen on the NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"
1992
Cast as Dean Davenport on the NBC sitcom "A Different World"
1992
Played Whoopi Goldberg's back-up singer in "Sister Act"
1993
Played Zelma Bullock in "What's Love Got to Do With It"
1994
First screen collaboration with director Penny Marshall, "Renaissance Man"
1994
TV-movie debut, "Deconstructing Sarah" (USA Network)
1995
Played lesbian judge on the short-lived CBS drama "Courthouse"
1996
Cast as Whitney Houston's mother in Penny Marshall's "The Preacher's Wife"
1999
Starred in the Lifetime movie "Jackie's Back"
2000
Cast as Lana Hawkins in "Strong Medicine" (Lifetime, 2000-06)
2002
Headlined and co-wrote the nightclub act "Now What?"
2004
Appeared in the comedy "The Cookout," co-written by Queen Latifah
2006
Voiced character of Flo in Pixar animated feature "Cars"
2008
Co-starred in "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns"
2009
Voiced Mama Odie, a 197-year-old voodoo priestess in Disney's animated feature "The Princess and the Frog"
2011
Reprised voice role in animated sequel "Cars 2"
2012
Cast in the ensemble comedy "Think Like a Man"
2014
Landed role of Ruby Johnson in "Black-ish" (ABC, 2014-)
Bibliography
Notes
"My mother was a maid. For my mother to be able to see me on television as a judge is a beautiful thing." --Jenifer Lewis in Out, December 1995-January 1996.
"I have a hundred names on a list of people who have died of AIDS. And when you experienced that silent war, there's only room for action. I'm not comfortable with people around me who try. Because 100 people who I've known are dead, you should do." --Lewis in the Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1993.
"I am sexual. Sexulity exudes from me. Even when I'm not putting it out. So who's behind Door Number 3 doesn't really matter. It could be a man or a woman, a goat or a chicken, five women or six men." --Jenifer Lewis in The Advocate, September 19, 1995.
