Loading amazing content...
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
June 19, 1948
Place of Birth
Houston, Texas, USA
Also Known As
- Phylicia Ayers-Allen
- Phylicia Rashad
Phylicia Rashād
1.1 Popularity
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 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.
Known For
Credits
Ruth & Boaz
as Naomi
2025
7.6
Diarra from Detroit
as Vonda
2024
4.6
The Beekeeper
as Eloise Parker
2024
7.3
Heaven Down Here
as Nancy
2023
7.7
Curses!
as Georgia (voice)
2023
6.2
Our Son
as Maya
2023
5.8
Being Mary Tyler Moore
as Self (voice)
2023
6.6
Creed III
as Mary-Anne Creed
2023
7.1
Sherri
as Self - Guest
2022
3.0
The Gilded Age
as Elizabeth Kirkland
2022
7.7
Inside the Black Box
2022
5.0
tick, tick... BOOM!
as "Sunday" Legend #12
2021
7.6
Show of Titles
as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
2021
0.0
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
as Self
2021
8.2
Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous
as Anna Campbell
2021
0.0
Twenty Pearls: The Story of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
as Narrator (voice)
2021
0.0
Soul
as Libba Gardner (voice)
2020
8.1
Between the World and Me
as Self
2020
7.9
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
as Grandmother Journey
2020
6.6
Black Box
as Lillian
2020
6.4
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
as Self - Actress
2020
8.1
Little America
as Margaret Jean the Queen
2020
6.7
A Fall from Grace
as Sarah
2020
7.0
Tamron Hall
as Self - Guest
2019
4.9
David Makes Man
as Dr. Woods-Trap
2019
6.7
Creed II
as Mary Anne Creed
2018
7.0
🎬
Charlie's Place
as Narrator (voice)
2018
0.0
Station 19
as Pilar
2018
8.2
Tour de Pharmacy
as Victoria Young
2017
6.7
🎬
JFK: The Lost Inaugural Gala
as Self - Host
2017
0.0
The Good Fight
as Renetta Clark
2017
7.5
This Is Us
as Carol Clarke
2016
8.2
Jean-Claude Van Johnson
as Jane
2016
6.5
VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens
2016
0.0
Creed
as Mary Anne Creed
2015
7.4
Emily & Tim
as Emily (Segment 5)
2015
5.6
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
as Self
2015
0.0
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
as Self
2014
1.5
Gods Behaving Badly
as Demeter
2013
2.5
Do No Harm
as Dr. Vanessa Young
2013
6.1
Sofia the First
as Mountain Witch (voice)
2013
7.2
Steel Magnolias
as Clairee
2012
7.0
Good Deeds
as Wilimena Deeds
2012
6.2
Change of Plans
as Dorothy
2011
6.7
Frankie & Alice
as Edna
2010
5.9
For Colored Girls
as Gilda
2010
6.6
Just Wright
as Ella McKnight
2010
6.5
A Raisin in the Sun
as Lena Younger
2008
6.1
Psych
as Winnifred Guster
2006
7.9
Everybody Hates Chris
2005
8.1
Grey's Anatomy
as Nell Timms
2005
8.2
The Cosby Show: A Look Back
as Self / Clair Huxtable (archive footage)
2002
7.4
NBC 75th Anniversary Special
as Self
2002
0.0
Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man
as Cassandra Hawkins
2001
6.3
🎬
The Old Settler
as Elizabeth Barney
2001
2.7
🎬
The Visit
as Dr. Coles
2001
7.6
Bull
2000
6.8
Little Bill
as Brenda Glover (voice)
1999
6.8
Free of Eden
as Desiree
1999
10.0
Dinosaur - Preshow
as Dr Helen Marsh
1998
0.0
Cosby
as Ruth Lucas
1996
6.1
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
as Self - Guest
1996
3.9
Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored
as Ma Ponk
1996
3.6
The Babysitter's Seduction
as Kate Jacobs
1996
5.6
The Possession of Michael D.
as Dr. Marion Hale (Psychiatrist)
1995
4.8
In the House
1995
7.5
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
as Lady Fulton (voice)
1995
6.0
Touched by an Angel
as Elizabeth Jessup
1994
7.2
David's Mother
as Gladys Johnson
1994
8.1
🎬
Hallelujah
as Mayor Turner
1993
6.0
Intimate Portrait
as Self
1993
4.5
Bob Hope's Four-Star Christmas Fiesta from San Antonio
as Self
1992
0.0
Jailbirds
as Janice Grant
1991
10.0
Polly: Comin' Home!
as Aunt Polly
1990
8.5
Blossom
1990
6.1
The Earth Day Special
as Clair Huxtable
1990
6.3
Polly
as Aunt Polly
1989
8.2
False Witness
as Lynne Jacobi
1989
10.0
Mickey's 60th Birthday
as Disneyland Cleaning Lady
1988
6.7
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
as Jane Goodfellow (voice)
1987
7.8
A Different World
as Clair Huxtable
1987
7.0
A Different World
as Clair Huxtable
1987
9.0
Uncle Tom's Cabin
as Eliza
1987
7.0
The Cosby Show
as Clair Huxtable
1984
7.0
Reading Rainbow
as Narrator (voice)
1983
8.3
We're Fighting Back
1981
6.0
The Broad Coalition
1972
0.0
Tony Awards
as Self - Presenter
1956
5.9
The Emmy Awards
as Self
1949
7.9
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
1948
8.0
🎬
Coretta Scott
as Self - Narrator (voice)
N/A
0.0