Jenifer Lewis: A Legend, An Icon
Born Jenifer Jeanette Lews in St. Louis, Missouri on January 25, 1957, Aunty Jen is an actress, singer and activist. A triple threat, if you will. She attended Kinloch High School and Webster University (where she later received an honorary degree in 2015). It was after college that she moved to New York.
The youngest of seven, her career began in musicals on Broadway, appearing in Eubie. As a result of working as a backup singer for Bette Midler, she was able to land her first screen role in the film Beaches. During this time, she also developed her autobiographical comedy and musical, The Diva is Dismissed” for nightclubs.
She relocated to LA and started landing television roles on a variety of shows, including In Living Color, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, Dream On, and Friends. She was Dean davenport in A Different World, she was Aunt Helen in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, she was in Courthouse where she played Judge Rosetta Reide, the first main African American lesbian character on TV.
She came through with the acting in movies, as well. As one of the backup singers in Sister Act, Tupac’s mom in Poetic Justice, and as Zelma Bullock in What’s Love Got to Do With It (for which she won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture). Jenifer was also in Renaissance Man, Corrina, Corrina, Panther, Dead Presidents, and The Preacher’s Wife (I LOVE THAT MOVIE!).
I could literally just list her filmography and it still wouldn’t be enough to cover just how iconic this woman is. If you’ve seen her if anything for just 5 minutes, you know how magic she is on the screen, from her voice to the attitude with which she portrays each character.
Jenifer was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1990. She was ashamed at first, hiding her disorder from the people around her. But, she sought out treatment eventually, attending therapy and taking medication to treat her mental illness. (HONESTLY, THERAPY CAN BE LIFE CHANGING. IF YOU NEED HELP, DON’T EVER BE ASHAMED TO SEEK THAT OUT.)
Jenifer has a book out, “The Black Mother of Hollywood: A Memoir” (which I definitely have and, of course, haven’t read) that you can find in any bookstore! And be sure to catch her on Black-Ish, which is a show that you should be watching anyway.
Jenifer Lewis, ladies and gents!
