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Who is Jenifer Lewis? Life and key facts
By Staff
Sept 27, 2026
Jenifer Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress and singer.
She began her career in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler.
She later appeared in Beaches (1988) and Sister Act (1992).
She is known for playing mothers in films like What’s Love Got to Do With It (1993) and Poetic Justice.
Other notable roles include The Preacher’s Wife (1996), The Brothers (2001), The Cookout (2004) and Think Like a Man (2012).
She also appears in Think Like a Man Too (2014) and Baggage Claim (2013).
The Wedding Ringer (2015) and The Temptations miniseries (1998) are among her roles.
She is unofficially known as ‘The Mother of Black Hollywood’ (also the title of her memoir) due to frequent matriarchal film and TV roles.
She also provided the voice for Mama Odie in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Flo in Pixar’s Cars series.
Additional film roles include Dead Presidents (1995), Cast Away (2000) and Hereafter (2010).
Jenifer Lewis starred on television as Lana Hawkins in the Lifetime medical drama Strong Medicine from 2000 to 2006.
She also had recurring roles on A Different World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Girlfriends.
In 2014, she began starring as Ruby Johnson in the ABC comedy series Black-ish.
Moreover, she received two Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations for that role.
Early life: Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri.
Additionally, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Webster in 2015.
Career
1970s–1980s
Soon after she arrived in New York City, Lewis debuted on Broadway in a small role in Eubie (1979), the musical based on the work of Eubie Blake. She next landed the role of Effie White in the workshop of the Michael Bennett–directed musical Dreamgirls, but when the show moved to Broadway, Bennett chose Jennifer Holliday for the role.[citation needed]
Lewis became a Harlette, a back-up singer for Bette Midler, which led to Lewis’ first TV appearances on Midler’s HBO specials. She was cast as a backup singer in the Otto Titsling production number in Midler’s film Beaches (1988). At the same time, Lewis was developing her nightclub act, The Diva Is Dismissed, an autobiographical comedy and music show in New York City cabarets. She performed the show off-Broadway at the Public Theater.
1990s
After Lewis relocated to Los Angeles, she began appearing in television sitcoms, including Murphy Brown, Dream On, In Living Color, Roc, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper and Friends. From 1992 to 1993, she played Dean Davenport in the sixth and final season of the NBC sitcom A Different World.
She also had a recurring role as Will Smith’s Aunt Helen in the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1991 to 1996. As a series regular, Lewis starred alongside Patricia Wettig in her short-lived legal drama Courthouse in 1995, playing Judge Rosetta Reid, the first main African American lesbian character on television.
In 1992, Lewis was cast as one of the back-up singers to Whoopi Goldberg in the comedy film Sister Act. The following year, Lewis played the mother of Tupac Shakur’s character in the film Poetic Justice, and as Zelma Bullock, Tina Turner’s mother, in the biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It starring Angela Bassett.
Lewis has stated that she never auditioned to play Turner, but would have been thrilled to play the iconic singer. Lewis is only one year older than Bassett. For her performance, she received her first NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture nomination. In 1994, she followed with other comedic supporting roles, including Mrs.
Coleman, the Unemployment Office lady, in Renaissance Man and as Whoopi Goldberg’s sister in Corrina, Corrina. In 1995, she was cast in maternal roles to Kadeem Hardison in Panther and to Larenz Tate in Dead Presidents.[citation needed]
In 1996, Lewis appeared as Theresa Randle’s telephone sex line boss in the film Girl 6. Later that year, she played Whitney Houston’s character’s mother in the film The Preacher’s Wife, for which she received her second NAACP Image Award nomination. She also had roles in The Mighty (1998), The Temptations miniseries (1998), Mystery Men (1999) and Blast from the Past (1999), and the leading role in the film Jackie’s Back (1999).
2000s
In 2000, Lewis had a supporting role in the adventure drama film Cast Away, directed by Robert Zemeckis. In the same year, she began starring as Lana Hawkins on the Lifetime television medical drama Strong Medicine, for which she also performed the theme song. The show ended in February 2006. She also voiced Flo in Pixar’s Cars franchise.
She also had a recurring role as Veretta Childs (Toni’s mother) in the UPN sitcom Girlfriends. In film, she appeared as Morris Chestnut’s mother in the romantic comedy The Brothers (2001). In 2006, she had a featured role as the wedding planner in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, and also appeared in Perry’s comedy-drama Meet the Browns (2008) as Vera Brown.
She also appeared in Juwanna Mann (2002), The Cookout (2004), Nora’s Hair Salon (2004), Dirty Laundry (2006) and Not Easily Broken (2009).
On April 22, 2008, Lewis replaced Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway’s Hairspray. On television, she guest-starred on That’s So Raven and Boston Legal. Lewis also had a number of voice acting roles, including Walt Disney Animation Studios’s animated musical The Princess and the Frog (2009), for which she was nominated for the Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production.
2010s
In June 2010, Lewis told the Jazz Joy and Roy syndicated radio show: “I just did a production of Hello Dolly at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle and it had to be one of the greatest productions that I have ever done, because I got to just do a character, Dolly Levi, and it was just great.” In 2012, Lewis began working with Shangela on the online reality show parody Jenifer Lewis and Shangela, where she acts as herself alongside Shangela, a “drag queen living in her basement.” She later appeared in Shangela’s music video for “Werqin Girl (Professional)”.[citation needed]
In 2010, Clint Eastwood cast Lewis in his fantasy film Hereafter. The following year, she starred alongside Rosario Dawson and Tracee Ellis Ross in Five, for which she received her third NAACP Image Award nomination. She also co-starred in the short-lived NBC series The Playboy Club. She played Terrence J’s overbearing mother in box-office hit Think Like a Man (2012) and its sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014).
In 2013, she played Paula Patton’s mother in the romantic comedy Baggage Claim. In 2015, she starred in the romantic comedy The Wedding Ringer.
In 2014, Lewis was cast as Ruby Johnson, Anthony Anderson’s character’s mother in the ABC comedy series Black-ish. She was elevated to series regular status as of the second season. In 2016, she received Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series nomination for her performance. She has also been featured in various TV commercials.
In 2017, she published a book about her life and career, entitled The Mother of Black Hollywood, in which she shared her life experiences with Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Chris Rock, Bette Midler, Rosie O’Donnell, Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin.
2020s
In 2022, Lewis was honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2024, Lewis competed in season eleven of The Masked Singer as “Miss Cleocatra” who later utilized an Egyptian throne prop. She was eliminated on “Girl Group Night”.
Also in 2024, the ABC special, After the Fall: A Conversation with Robin Roberts and Jenifer Lewis, premiered detailing a life-threatening accident that happened while she was on vacation in Africa.
In 2024, Lewis was honored with a star in the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Personal life
Lewis has revealed that she’s been engaged four times but never married. She has an adopted daughter named Charmaine Lewis.
In 2015, Lewis was defrauded by a romance-scheme con man, which was detailed in the 2022 episode “Financial Infidelity”, of the series American Greed.
In 1990, Lewis was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She originally hid her diagnosis, as she felt ashamed, but eventually came to embrace it after 17 years of therapy and 10 years of medication. In a 2014 interview, she said: “You have to look in the mirror… and say—before you can go or grow into anything—you have to say you love yourself.”
In 2022, Lewis sustained life-threatening injuries after falling ten feet from her hotel balcony in Serengeti. She was then airlifted to Nairobi where she underwent a nine-hour surgery followed by a six-day ICU stay.
In April 2024, Lewis made remarks about the President of the United States, Donald Trump, comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
Lewis is distantly related to former NFL player Tre’Von Johnson.
Filmography
Film
† — Denotes films that have not yet been released
1988 — Judge Jenifer Lewis — Uncredited
1988 — Diva
1992 — Michelle
1992 — Jomisha
1993 — Zelma Bullock — Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
1993 — Anne
1993 — Mrs. Williams
1993 — Cab Driver
1993 — Michelle
1994 — Mrs. Coleman
1994 — Jevina Washington
1995 — Rita
1995 — Mrs. Curtis
1996 — Boss #1 — Lil
1996 — Marguerite Coleman — Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
1998 — Mrs. Addison
1999 — Dr. Nina Aron
1999 — Herself — Documentary
1999 — Lucille
2000 — Judge Warner
2000 — Becca Twig
2001 — Louise Smith
2002 — Aunt Ruby
2002 — Aunt Mary Williams — Uncredited
2004 — Nora Harper
2004 — Emma “Lady Em” Andersen
2004 — Motown Turtle (voice)
2006 — Millay Jenay Lori
2006 — Flo (voice)
2006 — Aunt Lettuce
2006 — Nurse Jackson
2007 — Mrs. Hawkins
2007 — Therapist
2008 — Vera Brown
2009 — Mary “Mama” Clark
2009 — Mama Odie (voice) — Nominated — Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
2010 — Candace
2011 — Flo (voice)
2012 — Loretta Hanover
2012 — Gogo (voice)
2013 — Alize Gates
2013 — Catherine Moore — Nominated — Acapulco Black Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2014 — Aunt Valerie
2014 — Loretta Hanover
2015 — Doris Jenkins
2017 — Flo (voice) — Nominated — Black Reel Award for Outstanding Voice Performance
2019 — Great Auntie Sloom (voice)
2020 — Margeline
2024 — Gemini
2024 — Minister Nazara Prone (voice)
2026 — Florence “Flo” Everson (voice)
Video games
2006 — Flo (voice)
2007 — Flo (voice)
2009 — Flo (voice)
2009 — Mama Odie (voice)
2011 — Flo (voice)
2012 — Mama Odie / Shenzi (voice)
2013 — Flo (voice)
2014 — Flo (voice)
Music videos
1996 — Erykah’s Mother
2018 — Nosy neighbor — “What’s Going On”, “Ring-a-Ling”, “Apple Pie”
Theme parks
1989 — Ride Cue Instructional Video Announcer — Disney attraction
2012 — Flo — Disney attraction
2024 — Mama Odie — Disney attraction
Awards and nominations
NAACP Image Awards
The NAACP Image Awards are awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lewis has received 7 nominations.
1994 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture — What’s Love Got to Do with It — Nominated
1997 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture — The Preacher’s Wife — Nominated
2012 — Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special — Five — Nominated
2021 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2022 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2023 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2023 — Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography — Walking In My Joy: In These Streets — Nominated
Miscellaneous honors
2009 — Annie Award — Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in a Feature Production — The Princess and the Frog — Nominated
2016 — Critics’ Choice Television Award — Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2017 — Screen Actors Guild Award — Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2018 — Screen Actors Guild Award — Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2018 — Critics’ Choice Award — Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Black-ish — Nominated
2019 — Essence Award — Essence Honoree Award — Herself — Honored
2022 — Satellite Award — Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film — Black-ish — Nominated
2022 — Satellite Award — Honorary Satellite Award — Herself — Honored
2022 — Hollywood Walk of Fame — Herself — Inducted
2024 — St. Louis Walk of Fame — Herself — Inducted
