Phylicia Rashād

Biography

Phylicia Rashad (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress. She was most recently dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University before her three-year contract ended in May 2024. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she has received two Tony Awards as well as nominations for six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992) which earned her two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nominations in 1985 and 1986. She also played Ruth Lucas on Cosby (1996–2000), and Brenda Glover in Little Bill (1999–2004). She was also Emmy-nominated for her roles in A Raisin in the Sun (2008) and This Is Us (2019–2021). On stage, Rashad became the first Black actress to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, for a revival of A Raisin in the Sun (2004). She won her second Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew (2022). Her other Broadway credits include Into the Woods (1988), Jelly's Last Jam (1993), Gem of the Ocean (2004), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008). She has appeared in vario…

Movies & TV Shows

1. Soul (2020) — Libba Gardner (voice)
2. Grey's Anatomy (2005) — Nell Timms
3. Creed (2015) — Mary Anne Creed
4. Creed II (2018) — Mary Anne Creed
5. The Beekeeper (2024) — Eloise Parker
6. Creed III (2023) — Mary-Anne Creed
7. tick, tick... BOOM! (2021) — "Sunday" Legend #12
8. This Is Us (2016) — Carol Clarke
9. Station 19 (2018) — Pilar
10. Everybody Hates Chris (2005)
11. Psych (2006) — Winnifred Guster
12. A Fall from Grace (2020) — Sarah
13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) — Jane Goodfellow (voice)
14. Empire (2015) — Diana DuBois
15. Black Box (2020) — Lillian
16. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020) — Grandmother Journey
17. Sofia the First (2013) — Mountain Witch (voice)
18. The Cosby Show (1984) — Clair Huxtable
19. Just Wright (2010) — Ella McKnight
20. The Good Fight (2017) — Renetta Clark
21. Tour de Pharmacy (2017) — Victoria Young
22. The Gilded Age (2022) — Elizabeth Kirkland
23. Touched by an Angel (1994) — Elizabeth Jessup
24. Jean-Claude Van Johnson (2016) — Jane
25. Good Deeds (2012) — Wilimena Deeds
26. Frankie & Alice (2010) — Edna
27. Blossom (1990)
28. Ruth & Boaz (2025) — Naomi
29. For Colored Girls (2010) — Gilda
30. Little America (2020) — Margaret Jean the Queen
31. A Different World (1987) — Clair Huxtable
32. Steel Magnolias (2012) — Clairee
33. The Babysitter's Seduction (1996) — Kate Jacobs
34. Reading Rainbow (1983) — Narrator (voice)
35. Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020) — Self - Actress
36. A Raisin in the Sun (2008) — Lena Younger
37. Cosby (1996) — Ruth Lucas
38. Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man (2001) — Cassandra Hawkins
39. Little Bill (1999) — Brenda Glover (voice)
40. Being Mary Tyler Moore (2023) — Self (voice)

Directed

1. Grey's Anatomy (2005) — Director