Jackée Harry

Early life

Harry was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1956, and raised in Harlem, New York, to a Trinidadian mother and African-American father, Harry began studying acting at the High School of the Performing Arts on the Lower East Side in New York City. She was an American History teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School before beginning a career on the New York stage.

Theater

Harry made her Broadway debut in A Broadway Musical, playing a chorine. Throughout the 1980s she starred in numerous productions both on and off Broadway, and in national touring productions. In 1994, Harry made her return to the theater by starring as Billie Holiday in the play Lady Day at Emersons Bar and Grill. Following that stage production, she fulfilled the role of "madam who runs a bordello" in the Broadway musical The Boys from Syracuse. In the mid-2000s, she appeared in stage productions of The Sunshine Boys, Damn Yankees, and A Christmas Carol. She also toured nationally in JD Lawrence's The Clean Up Woman.

Television

In 1983, she made her acting debut in Another World as Lily Mason, a role she continued until 1986. In 2003, she was a surprise guest on the Another World Reunion that SOAPnet coordinated and aired. In 1985, Harry began a co-starring role as Sandra Clark, on the NBC sitcom 227. Her mother, Flossie, celebrated her getting the role but died before the show started airing. During the series run, Jackée and her series' lead, Marla Gibbs began feuding privately over who was the series lead. They have since reconciled and collaborated on a number of projects. Her performance on 227 inspired NBC producers to create a television pilot for her entitled Jackée. Although the pilot episode was a success with audiences, the series did not last and the episode is now shown as an episode of 227.

After leaving 227 in 1989, Harry starred opposite Oprah Winfrey in the adaptation of Gloria Naylor's novel, The Women of Brewster Place. In 1990, she headlined an NBC comedy pilot from Witt/Thomas titled We'll Take Manhattan; it aired as a summer special that year, but did not make it to series. In late 1991, she joined the cast of The Royal Family after the star, Redd Foxx, unexpectedly died. She starred opposite two-time 227 guest-star Della Reese. In 1992, she starred as the assistant coach in Ladybugs. Harry served as a guest panelist on the 2000 revival of To Tell the Truth and appeared on the second season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club 2 in 2005. From 1994 until 1999, Harry played Lisa Landry, the adoptive mother of Tia Mowry's character, on the sitcom Sister, Sister.

She had a recurring role as Vanessa on The CW series Everybody Hates Chris and had a recurring role on the BET Series Let's Stay Together. She is starring in Byron Allen's syndicated sitcom The First Family which also features Marla Gibbs in a recurring role. On April 12, 2013, it was announced that she was cast in the episodes "Girl Meets Crazy Hat" and the pilot of Disney sitcom Girl Meets World. Later, she also appeared on "Girl Meets Demolition". That same year, she also joined Gibbs in the movie Forbidden Woman. In 2014 she made a guest appearance on Instant Mom as her character Lisa Landry.

Awards

Harry became the first African American to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for 227 in 1987. She won NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Sister, Sister two consecutive years in 1999 and 2000.

Personal life

Harry has been married four times, once was to Elgin Charles Williams from 1996 to 2003. They adopted their son, Frank, in 1997.

On January 11, 2016, Harry, along with her former 227 series' lead, mentor and long-time friend, Marla Gibbs, attended the funeral of Grammy-Award winning singer Natalie Cole, at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, California, following her death on December 31, 2015.