Jenifer Jeanette Lewis was born on January 25,1957 and is an American actress and singer.
27 Facts About Jenifer Lewis
2.
Jenifer Lewis began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films Beaches and Sister Act.
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Jenifer Lewis is known unofficially as "The Mother of Black Hollywood" given her frequent matriarchal film and television roles.
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Jenifer Lewis provided the voice for Mama Odie in Disney's animated feature The Princess and the Frog, and Flo in Pixar's Cars series.
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On television, Jenifer Lewis starred as Lana Hawkins in the Lifetime medical drama Strong Medicine from 2000 to 2006.
6.
Jenifer Lewis had recurring roles on sitcoms A Different World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Girlfriends.
7.
In 2014, Jenifer Lewis began starring as Ruby Johnson in the ABC comedy series Black-ish, for which she received two Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.
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Jenifer Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri, a suburb of St Louis, to a nurse's aide mother, Dorothy, and a factory worker father.
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Jenifer Lewis sang in her church choir at the age of five.
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Jenifer Lewis attended Kinloch High School and then college at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri.
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Jenifer Lewis received an honorary degree from Webster in 2015.
12.
Jenifer Lewis accepted a position as a Harlette, a back-up singer for Bette Midler which led to Jenifer Lewis' first TV appearances on Midler's HBO specials.
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Jenifer Lewis acquired her first screen role as a result, appearing as a singer in the Otto Titsling production number in the Bette Midler vehicle Beaches.
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Jenifer Lewis performed the show off-Broadway at the Public Theater.
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Jenifer Lewis had a recurring role as Will Smith's Aunt Helen in the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1991 to 1996.
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In 1992, Jenifer Lewis was cast as one of the back-up singers to Whoopi Goldberg in the comedy film Sister Act.
17.
Jenifer Lewis has stated that she never auditioned to play Turner, but would have been thrilled to play the iconic singer.
18.
Jenifer Lewis had roles in The Mighty, The Temptations miniseries, Mystery Men and Blast from the Past, and the leading role in the film Jackie's Back.
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In 2000, Jenifer Lewis had a supporting role in the adventure drama film Cast Away, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
20.
Jenifer Lewis had a recurring role as Veretta Childs in the UPN sitcom Girlfriends.
21.
Jenifer Lewis appeared in Juwanna Mann, The Cookout, Nora's Hair Salon, Dirty Laundry and Not Easily Broken.
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Jenifer Lewis had a number of voice acting roles, including Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated musical The Princess and the Frog, for which she was nominated for the Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production.
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Jenifer Lewis co-starred in the short-lived NBC series The Playboy Club.
24.
Jenifer Lewis played Terrence J's overbearing mother in box-office hit Think Like a Man and its sequel Think Like a Man Too.
25.
In 2014, Jenifer Lewis was cast as Ruby Johnson, Anthony Anderson's character's mother in the ABC comedy series Black-ish.
26.
Jenifer Lewis was elevated to series regular status as of the second season.
27.
Jenifer Lewis originally hid her diagnosis, as she felt ashamed, but eventually came to embrace it after 17 years of therapy and 10 years of medication.