Phylicia Rashad

Biography

Phylicia Rashād is an American actress, singer and stage director. She is known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, which earned her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. She was dubbed “The Mother Of The Black Community” at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards. 

In 2004, Rashad became the first black actress to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, which she won for her role in the revival of A Raisin in the Sun. 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 won a NAACP Image Award when she reprised her A Raisin in the Sun role in the 2008 television adaptation. She has also appeared in the films For Colored Girls (2010), Good Deeds (2012), Creed (2015), and Creed II (2018).

Rashad’s first marriage, in 1972, was to dentist William Lancelot Bowles, Jr. The marriage ended in 1975. Rashad then married Victor Willis (original lead singer of the Village People, who she met during the run of The Wiz) in 1978. They divorced in 1982. She married former NFL wide receiver and sportscaster Ahmad Rashād on December 14, 1985. The couple divorced in early 2001.