Biography
Best known for playing unapologetically mature, assertive, and intelligent adult women, African-American supporting actress Jenifer Lewis originally launched her career as a vocalist, singing in a church choir in Kinloch, MO. Lewis' passion (and gift) for singing carried her to the Great White Way, where she appeared in a number of sell-out Broadway musicals -- including Ain't Misbehavin' and Dreamgirls. She subsequently migrated to the West Coast for a string of appearances in TV programs such as
Roc,
A Different World,
Murphy Brown, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper,
Touched by an Angel, and
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and graduated to features in 1992. The films in which Lewis has appeared run the gamut of quality, from outstanding (What's Love Got to Do With It?, 1993) to satisfactory (
Sister Act, 1992;
The Preacher's Wife, 1996) to downright abominable (
Frozen Assets, 1992); many, however, demonstrated her fine gifts.
More recently, Lewis attained some much-deserved recognition (and ascended to higher than usual billing) with her multi-season portrayal of Lana Hawkins in the prime-time medical drama
Strong Medicine (2000). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide