Phylicia Rashād
Acting • Born 1948-06-19
Biography
Phylicia Rashad (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress. She was most recently dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University before her three-year contract ended in May 2024. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she has received two Tony Awards as well as nominations for six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992) which earned her two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nominations in 1985 and 1986. She also played Ruth Lucas on Cosby (1996–2000), and Brenda Glover in Little Bill (1999–2004). She was also Emmy-nominated for her roles in A Raisin in the Sun (2008) and This Is Us (2019–2021). On stage, Rashad became the first Black actress to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, for a revival of A Raisin in the Sun (2004). She won her second Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew (2022). Her other Broadway credits include Into the Woods (1988), Jelly's Last Jam (1993), Gem of the Ocean (2004), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008). She has appeared in various films such as For Colored Girls (2010), Good Deeds (2012), Creed (2015), Creed II (2018), Creed III (2023), and The Beekeeper (2024). She lent her voice to the Disney-Pixar animated film Soul (2020). In the 21st century, she has directed revivals of three plays by August Wilson, in major theaters in Seattle, Princeton, New Jersey; and Los Angeles. She also directed Purpose (play) in its 2024-2025 run at the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway.
Filmography
89 credits
A Raisin in the Sun
Movie • 2008
Lena Younger
Our Son
Movie • 2023
Maya
tick, tick... BOOM!
Movie • 2021
"Sunday" Legend #12
JFK: The Lost Inaugural Gala
Movie • 2017
Self - Host
Just Wright
Movie • 2010
Ella McKnight
Good Deeds
Movie • 2012
Wilimena Deeds
For Colored Girls
Movie • 2010
Gilda
The Babysitter's Seduction
Movie • 1996
Kate Jacobs
The Broad Coalition
Movie • 1972
Frankie & Alice
Movie • 2010
Edna
Polly
Movie • 1989
Aunt Polly
Being Mary Tyler Moore
Movie • 2023
Self (voice)
Change of Plans
Movie • 2011
Dorothy
Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored
Movie • 1996
Ma Ponk
Steel Magnolias
Movie • 2012
Clairee
Free of Eden
Movie • 1999
Desiree
Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man
Movie • 2001
Cassandra Hawkins
Heaven Down Here
Movie • 2023
Nancy
The Old Settler
Movie • 2001
Elizabeth Barney
The Beekeeper
Movie • 2024
Eloise Parker
David's Mother
Movie • 1994
Gladys Johnson
Polly: Comin' Home!
Movie • 1990
Aunt Polly
Twenty Pearls: The Story of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
Movie • 2021
Narrator (voice)
NBC 75th Anniversary Special
Movie • 2002
Self
Jailbirds
Movie • 1991
Janice Grant
We're Fighting Back
Movie • 1981
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Movie • 1987
Eliza
Coretta Scott
Movie
Self - Narrator (voice)
Emily & Tim
Movie • 2015
Emily (Segment 5)
Creed
Movie • 2015
Mary Anne Creed
The Possession of Michael D.
Movie • 1995
Dr. Marion Hale (Psychiatrist)
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
Movie • 2015
Self
Mickey's 60th Birthday
Movie • 1988
Disneyland Cleaning Lady
Tour de Pharmacy
Movie • 2017
Victoria Young
False Witness
Movie • 1989
Lynne Jacobi
Creed II
Movie • 2018
Mary Anne Creed
Charlie's Place
Movie • 2018
Narrator (voice)
The Visit
Movie • 2001
Dr. Coles
Soul
Movie • 2020
Libba Gardner (voice)
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Movie • 2020
Grandmother Journey
A Fall from Grace
Movie • 2020
Sarah
Creed III
Movie • 2023
Mary-Anne Creed
Black Box
Movie • 2020
Lillian
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Movie • 2014
Self
Between the World and Me
Movie • 2020
Self
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
Movie • 2020
Self - Actress
Hallelujah
Movie • 1993
Mayor Turner
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
Movie • 2021
Self
Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous
Movie • 2021
Anna Campbell
The Cosby Show: A Look Back
Movie • 2002
Self / Clair Huxtable (archive footage)
The Earth Day Special
Movie • 1990
Clair Huxtable
Ruth & Boaz
Movie • 2025
Naomi
Show of Titles
Movie • 2021
"There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Gods Behaving Badly
Movie • 2013
Demeter
Dinosaur - Preshow
Movie • 1998
Dr Helen Marsh
Bob Hope's Four-Star Christmas Fiesta from San Antonio
Movie • 1992
Self
VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens
Movie • 2016
In the House
TV • 1995
A Different World
TV • 1987
Clair Huxtable
Everybody Hates Chris
TV • 2005
Psych
TV • 2006
Winnifred Guster
Touched by an Angel
TV • 1994
Elizabeth Jessup
The Cosby Show
TV • 1984
Clair Huxtable
Tamron Hall
TV • 2019
Self - Guest
Blossom
TV • 1990
Grey's Anatomy
TV • 2005
Nell Timms
Little Bill
TV • 1999
Brenda Glover (voice)
Cosby
TV • 1996
Ruth Lucas
Bull
TV • 2000
Do No Harm
TV • 2013
Dr. Vanessa Young
Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993
Self
Jean-Claude Van Johnson
TV • 2016
Jane
Inside the Black Box
TV • 2022
Reading Rainbow
TV • 1983
Narrator (voice)
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
TV • 1995
Lady Fulton (voice)
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
TV • 1996
Self - Guest
The Good Fight
TV • 2017
Renetta Clark
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
TV • 1987
Jane Goodfellow (voice)
Diarra from Detroit
TV • 2024
Vonda
Sofia the First
TV • 2013
Mountain Witch (voice)
This Is Us
TV • 2016
Carol Clarke
Little America
TV • 2020
Margaret Jean the Queen
David Makes Man
TV • 2019
Dr. Woods-Trap
Station 19
TV • 2018
Pilar
Curses!
TV • 2023
Georgia (voice)
Sherri
TV • 2022
Self - Guest
The Gilded Age
TV • 2022
Elizabeth Kirkland
The Emmy Awards
TV • 1949
Self
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
TV • 1948