Phylicia Rashād
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 various films such as For Colored Girls (2010), Good Deeds (2012), Creed (2015), Creed II (2018), Creed III (2023), and The Beekeeper (2024). She lent her voice to the Disney-Pixar animated film Soul (2020). In the 21st century, she has directed revivals of three plays by August Wilson, in major theaters in Seattle, Princeton, New Jersey; and Los Angeles. She also directed Purpose (play) in its 2024-2025 run at the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway.
93 acting credits · 1 directing credit
Acting · 93
Grey's Anatomy
2005
Psych
2006
This Is Us
2016
The Good Fight
2017
Empire
2015
Station 19
2018
The Cosby Show
1984
Sherri
2022
Touched by an Angel
1994
Tony Awards
1956
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1987
Everybody Hates Chris
2005
The Beekeeper
2024
Tamron Hall
2019
A Different World
1987
Sofia the First
2013
The Gilded Age
2022
Intimate Portrait
1993
Blossom
1990
Reading Rainbow
1983
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
1995
Soul
2020
In the House
1995
Creed
2015
Cosby
1996
Creed II
2018
Curses!
2023
Creed III
2023
Little America
2020
Bull
2000
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996
The Emmy Awards
1949
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
1948
Little Bill
1999
David Makes Man
2019
Jean-Claude Van Johnson
2016
Do No Harm
2013
tick, tick... BOOM!
2021
A Fall from Grace
2020
Tour de Pharmacy
2017
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
2020
Just Wright
2010
The Babysitter's Seduction
1996
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
2020
The Earth Day Special
1990
Ruth & Boaz
2025
Diarra from Detroit
2024
For Colored Girls
2010
Inside the Black Box
2022
NBC 75th Anniversary Special
2002
Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man
2001
Black Box
2020
Good Deeds
2012
Between the World and Me
2020
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
2014
Mickey's 60th Birthday
1988
Show of Titles
2021
Our Son
2023
Being Mary Tyler Moore
2023
Frankie & Alice
2010
Steel Magnolias
2012
Gods Behaving Badly
2013
A Raisin in the Sun
2008
Free of Eden
1999
Polly
1989
The Possession of Michael D.
1995
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1987
Hallelujah
1993
We're Fighting Back
1981
David's Mother
1994
Jailbirds
1991
Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored
1996
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
2021
The Cosby Show: A Look Back
2002
Polly: Comin' Home!
1990
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015
Change of Plans
2011
The Old Settler
2001
Emily & Tim
2015
The Visit
2001
VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens
2016
Heaven Down Here
2023
Bob Hope's Four-Star Christmas Fiesta from San Antonio
1992
JFK: The Lost Inaugural Gala
2017
Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous
2021
Charlie's Place
2018
False Witness
1989
Dinosaur - Preshow
1998
Twenty Pearls: The Story of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
2021
Coretta Scott
—
God and the Inner City
2003
The Broad Coalition
1972
The Debbie Allen Special
1989