Catalog

Jenifer Lewis

Jenifer Jeanette Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress and singer. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films ''Beaches'' (1988) and ''Sister Act'' (1992). Lewis is known for playing roles of mothers in the films ''What's Love Got to Do With It'' (1993), ''Poetic Justice'' (1993), ''The Preacher's Wife'' (1996), ''The Brothers'' (2001), ''The Cookout'' (2004), ''Think Like a Man'' (2012) and in the sequel ''Think Like a Man Too'' (2014), ''Baggage Claim'' (2013) and ''The Wedding Ringer'' (2015), as well as in ''The Temptations'' miniseries (1998).

Lewis is known unofficially as "The Mother of Black Hollywood" (also the name of her memoir) given her frequent matriarchal film and television roles. She also provided the voice for Mama Odie in Disney's animated feature ''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). On television, Lewis starred as Lana Hawkins in the Lifetime medical drama ''Strong Medicine'' from 2000 to 2006. She also had recurring roles on sitcoms ''A Different World'', ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' and ''Girlfriends''. In 2014, Lewis began starring as Ruby Johnson in the ABC comedy series ''Black-ish'', for which she received two Critics' Choice Television Award nominations. Provided by Wikipedia