Tichina Arnold

Early life

Arnold was born in Queens, New York, to a middle-class African-American family. Her mother was a sanitation department worker and her father was a police officer. Arnold was raised in the Church of God in Christ. She attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Film and television

In 1986, Arnold appeared as Crystal, one of the three chorus girls who perform R&B numbers in Frank Oz's film musical Little Shop of Horrors (1986) along with future Martin co-star Tisha Campbell. Arnold was only fifteen at the time of filming, and her career continued steadily after that, with a role or two almost every year, including the films How I Got into College and the Paul Mazursky/Woody Allen collaboration Scenes from a Mall (1991). In February 1987 Arnold scored her first big break on television, with a permanent role on the soap opera Ryan's Hope. Her critically lauded role, as young heroine Zena Brown, landed her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 1988. She continued in the role until the series ended in January 1989. Later that year, Arnold was cast as Sharla Valentine, a high-school friend of Emily Ann Sago (played by Liz Vassey) on the ABC-TV daytime drama All My Children. She continued in the role until 1991.

Arnold's best-known television role was Pamela James on Martin Lawrence's sitcom Martin (1992–1997). She also played the recurring role of Nicole Barnes on the sitcom One on One. In 2000, she was reunited with Martin Lawrence in Big Momma's House. In 2007, she again reunited with Lawrence (this time as his character's wife) in the big screen road comedy/buddy film Wild Hogs. In 2003, she appeared in Civil Brand. Arnold played the role of the matriarch, Rochelle, on the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris which premiered in September 2005 and ended in May 2009. In a departure from her known comedic roles, she played the title role in The Lena Baker Story (2008), which was about the first and only woman to be executed by the electric chair in Georgia.

She also played the voice of the friend in The Boondocks, episode "Attack of the Killer Kung-fu Wolf Bitch" which aired in 2007. In 2009, Arnold appeared onstage in The Wiz revival at the New York City Center in the part of Evillene, The Wicked Witch of the West. In 2010 she guest starred in the one-hour episode premiere of the Disney XD Original Series Pair of Kings as Aunt Nancy, and also reprise her role for one more episode.

Music

Although not as widely known for her work in music, Arnold has experienced success as a recording artist; she co-wrote and performed the duet, "Movin Up," which reached #2 on the Billboard Club Play chart with fellow high school alum and house music artist Inaya Day. Arnold is credited using the moniker China Ro, a pseudonym that was derived from the using only the latter part of her first name and the first two letters of her middle name. Tichina Arnold played the best friend of Fran Drescher in the TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced, which is based on Fran Drescher's real-life marriage and divorce to series co-creator Peter Marc Jacobson.

Personal life

In 1998, Arnold started her own company of designer headgear called "China Moon Rags". The headbands were Swarovski crystal-embroidered bandanas. Celebrities such as her best friend Michel'le, Tisha Campbell, Janet Jackson, Vivica A. Fox, Regina King, Christina Aguilera and LisaRaye McCoy have modeled and been seen wearing Arnold's designs. When her daughter was born, she stopped production.

Arnold has a daughter, Alijah Kai Haggins (born March 16, 2004), with music producer Carvin Haggins. In an interview with Joan Rivers, Arnold revealed that she had thought she was unable to conceive after bouts with endometriosis.

On August 18, 2012, Arnold married St. Johns Men's Basketball assistant Coach and former Golden State Warrior's Assistant Coach DaRico Hines in Honolulu, Hawaii. In January 2016, Arnold's representative confirmed she and Hines were divorcing.

Philanthropy

In 2013, Arnold and her sister created the We Win Foundation, a foundation for people suffering from lupus; her sister, Zenay, suffers from the disease.