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Phylicia Rashad ( ; ; 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 in its 2024-2025 run at the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway.
Their parents divorced when Phylicia was six. Seven years later, her mother moved with Phylicia and her sister to Mexico City, Mexico, to avoid the racial segregation in the United States. Ayers-Allen later returned to the US to study at Howard University, graduating magna cum laude in 1970 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. While there, she was initiated into the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Rashad joined the cast of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live to play publicist Courtney Wright in 1983. She is best known for the role of Lawyer Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. The show, which ran from 1984 to 1992, starred Bill Cosby as obstetrician Cliff Huxtable, and focused on their life with their five children. For her role, she earned two Emmy Awards nominations in 1985 and 1986. In 1985, Rashad co-hosted the NBC telecast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Pat Sajak and Bert Convy. When Cosby returned to TV comedy in 1996 with CBS's Cosby, he called Rashad to play Ruth Lucas, his character's wife. The TV pilot had been shot with Telma Hopkins, but Cosby fired the executive producer and replaced Hopkins with Rashad. The sitcom ran from 1996 to 2000. That year, Cosby also asked Rashad to work on his animated television series Little Bill, in which the actress voiced Bill's mother, Brenda, until the show's end in 2004.
In 1993, Rashad was the first narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional when the event was moved to Epcot. Her narration of the nativity story was recorded and released by Walt Disney Records. Amazon Listing Candlelight with Rashad accessed 08/11/2023 She also played a role in the pre-show of the Dinosaur ride at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park as Dr. Helen Marsh, the head of the Dino Institute.
Rashad played "Kill Moves"' wealthy mother on the Chris Rock created sitcom Everybody Hates Chris on December 9, 2007. In 2007 she appeared as Winnie Guster in the Psych episode "Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy". She returned to the role in 2008, in the episode "Christmas Joy". In February 2008, Rashad portrayed Lena Younger in the television film adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon. It starred core members of the cast of the 2004 Broadway revival at the Royale Theatre of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play, including Audra McDonald as Ruth Younger, and Sean Combs as Walter Lee Younger. The television film adaption debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast by ABC on February 25, 2008. According to Nielsen Media Research, the program was watched by 12.7 million viewers and ranked No. 9 in the ratings for the week ending March 2, 2008. Ginia Bellafante, "Raisin in the Sun: A Tale of Race and Family and a $10,000 Question", The New York Times, February 25, 2008.
In 2009, she appeared as Violet Weston, the drug-addicted matriarch of Tracy Letts's award-winning play , at the Music Box Theatre. Rashad returned to directing August Wilson's work in early 2014, when she led a revival of Wilson's Fences, at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. It received generally positive reviews. She continued to focus on Wilson's work, including a well-received production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which she directed at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in late 2016. From March 17 to May 1, 2016, Rashad played the lead role of Shelah in Tarell Alvin McCraney's play Head of Passes at The Public Theater. Her performance was positively reviewed. In November 2010, Rashad featured as Gilda in the ensemble cast in the Tyler Perry film For Colored Girls, based on the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. Rashad said about this work in an interview with Vibe Movies & TV in 2010: "I saw the original Broadway play. I thought it was amazing how such a story that wasn't pretty was poetry. Usually poetry is about lofty things and this was the poetry of speech and the movement of everyday people. I found a little bit of it off-putting to tell you the truth, because it was so angry when I saw it. And I think Tyler Perry has added an element here that wasn't in the original stage production, and that is the necessity for taking responsibility for one's own self otherwise you are just living to die. That is where he wrote the line in, 'You gotta take some responsibility in this. Otherwise you are just living to die.'"
In 2012, she starred in another Tyler Perry film, Good Deeds. Also in 2012, Rashad played Clairee Belcher in the remake of Steel Magnolias (the role originated by Olympia Dukakis). This version has an all African American A-list cast, including Queen Latifah as M'Lynn, Jill Scott as Truvy, Condola Rashad as Shelby, Adepero Oduye as Annelle, and Alfre Woodard as Ouiser. In 2015, she played Mary Anne Creed in the sports film Creed (2015), and again in the sequels Creed II (2018) and Creed III (2023). In 2016, Rashad was cast as a recurring guest star in the role of Diana DuBois in the third season of the Lee Daniels-produced Empire television series on Fox. In 2017, Rashad portrayed Bishop Yvette A. Flunder, pastor of The City of Refuge Church in San Francisco, Calif., as part of the Dustin Lance Black mini-series When We Rise. Her appearance in the show highlighted the reputed compassion of the church, the commitment of its leadership, and the loving home the church provides to minister in the tough, primarily African-American community in San Francisco.
Rashad received an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University.
She married a third time, to Ahmad Rashad on December 14, 1985. He was a former NFL wide receiver and sportscaster. It was a third marriage for each of them, and she took his last name. He proposed to her during a pregame show for a nationally televised Thanksgiving Day football game between the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions on November 28, 1985. Their daughter, Condola Rashad, was born on December 11, 1986, in New York. The couple divorced in early 2001, and she has retained the surname Rashad.
| 1972 | The Broad Coalition | - | Credited as Phylicia Ayers-Allen |
| 1983 | The Wiz | MunchkinField/Mouse | Video |
| 1995 | Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored | Ma Ponk | |
| 1999 | Loving Jezebel | Alice Melville | |
| 2000 | The Visit | Dr. Coles | |
| 2001 | Little Bill: Big Little Bill | Brenda Glover (voice) | Video |
| 2010 | Just Wright | Ella McKnight | |
| Frankie & Alice | Edna | ||
| For Colored Girls | Gilda | ||
| 2012 | Good Deeds | Wililemma | |
| 2013 | Gods Behaving Badly | Demeter | |
| 2015 | Emily & Tim | Emily Hanratty | |
| Creed | Mary Anne Creed | ||
| 2018 | Creed II | Mary Anne Creed | |
| 2020 | A Fall from Grace | Sarah Miller/Betty Mills | |
| Black Box | Dr. Lilian Brooks | ||
| Soul | Libba Gardner (voice) | ||
| Grandmother Journey Jangle | |||
| 2021 | The Disaster Dreams | Brianna's Mom (voice) | Short |
| Tick, Tick... Boom! | 'Sunday' Legend #12 | ||
| 2023 | Creed III | Mary Anne Creed | Final appearance in Creed franchise |
| Our Son | Maya | ||
| 2024 | The Beekeeper | Eloise Parker | |
| 2025 | Ruth & Boaz | Naomi |
| 1976 | Delvecchio | Ventita Ray | Episode: "Wax Job" |
| 1978 | Watch Your Mouth | - | Episode: "First Days - Part 1 & 2" |
| 1981 | We're Fighting Back | - | Television film |
| 1984 | One Life to Live | Courtney Wright | Regular cast |
| 1984–92 | The Cosby Show | Clair Huxtable | Main cast |
| 1985 | Santa Barbara | Felicia Dalton | Regular cast |
| The Love Boat | Lonette Becker | Episode: "A Day in Port" | |
| 1987 | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Eliza | TV movie |
| 1988 | Mickey's 60th Birthday | Disneyland Cleaning Lady | TV movie |
| 1988–90 | A Different World | Clair Huxtable | Guest (season 1–2), recurring cast (season 3) |
| 1989 | False Witness | Lynne Jacobi | TV movie |
| Polly | Aunt Polly | TV movie | |
| 1990 | Reading Rainbow | Herself | Episode: "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Jane Goodfellow (voice) | Episode: "What's Michelangelo Good For?" | |
| Aunt Polly | TV movie | ||
| 1991 | The Earth Day Special | Clair Huxtable | TV special |
| Blossom | Blossom's Dream Mom | Episode: "Blossom's Blossom" | |
| Jailbirds | Janice Grant | TV movie | |
| 1993 | American Playhouse | Mayor Turner | Episode: "Hallelujah" |
| 1994 | Ghostwriter | Herself | Episode: "A Crime of Two Cities" |
| The Cosby Mysteries | Hadley Roebuck | Episode: "Expert Witness" | |
| Touched by an Angel | Elizabeth Jessup | Episode: "Tough Love" | |
| David's Mother | Gladys Johnson | TV movie | |
| 1995 | The Possession of Michael D | Dr. Marion Hale | TV movie |
| In the House | Rowena | Episode: "Sister Act" | |
| 1996 | The Babysitter's Seduction | Detective Kate Jacobs | TV movie |
| 1996–2000 | Cosby | Ruth Lucas | Main cast |
| 1998 | Free of Eden | Desiree | TV movie |
| 1998–2000 | Intimate Portrait | Herself | Recurring guest |
| 1999–2004 | Little Bill | Brenda Glover (voice) | Main cast |
| 2000 | Lady Fulten (voice) | Episode: "The Princess and the Pauper" | |
| Bull | Mrs. Granville | Episode: "What the Past Will Bring" | |
| 2001 | Biography | Narrator (voice) | Episode: "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over" |
| The Old Settler | Elizabeth | TV movie | |
| Cassandra Hawkins | TV movie | ||
| 2002 | Touched by an Angel | Elizabeth Jessup | Episode: "The Last Chapter" |
| 2007 | Everybody Hates Chris | Kathleen Devereaux | Episode: "Everybody Hates Kwanzaa" |
| 2007–14 | Psych | Winnie Guster | Guest cast (season 2-3 & 8) |
| 2008 | The Life & Times of Tim | The Boss's Wife (voice) | Episode: "Theo Strikes Back/Amy Gets Wasted" |
| A Raisin in the Sun | Lena Younger | TV movie | |
| 2011 | Change of Plans | Dorothy | TV movie |
| 2012 | Steel Magnolias | Clairee Belcher | TV movie |
| 2012–13 | The Cleveland Show | Dee Dee Tubbs (voice) | Guest (season 3), recurring cast (season 4) |
| 2013 | Do No Harm | Dr. Vanessa Young | Main cast |
| 2014 | Sofia the First | Glacia the Ice Witch (voice) | Episode: "Winter's Gift" |
| 2016–17 | Jean-Claude Van Johnson | Jane | Main cast |
| 2016–18 | Empire | Diana DuBois | Recurring cast (season 3–5) |
| 2017 | When We Rise | Yvette Flunder | Episode: "Night IV: Part VI and VII" |
| Tour de Pharmacy | Victoria Young | TV movie | |
| 2019 | The Rocketeer | May Songbird (voice) | Episode: "Songbird Soars Again" |
| 2019–21 | This Is Us | Carol Clarke | Guest (season 3–4), recurring cast (season 5) |
| David Makes Man | Dr. Woods-Trap | Main cast (season 1), guest (season 2) | |
| 2020 | Station 19 | Pilar | Episode: "Ice Ice Baby" |
| 13 Reasons Why | Pastor | Recurring cast (season 4) | |
| 2021 | Grey's Anatomy | Nell Timms | Episode: "Sign O' the Times" |
| 2022 | The Good Fight | Renetta Clark | Recurring cast (season 6) |
| Little America | Margaret Jean the Queen | Episode: "Mr. Song" | |
| 2023 | The Crossover | Barbara | Episode: "Huddle Up" |
| Curses! | Georgia Snitker (voice) | Recurring cast | |
| 2024 | Diarra from Detroit | Vonda | Main cast |
| 2025 | The Chi | Renee | Recurring cast |
| 2025 | The Gilded Age | Mrs. Elizabeth Kirkland | Recurring cast (season 3) |
| 2024 | Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series | Diarra from Detroit | ||
| 2022 | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Skeleton Crew | ||
| 2022 | Distinguished Performance | Skeleton Crew | ||
| 1989 | ||||
| 1997 | Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Cosby | ||
| 1998 | ||||
| 2002 | Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series | Shauneille Perry | ||
| 2009 | Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series | A Raisin in the Sun | ||
| 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | For Colored Girls | ||
| 2013 | Good Deeds | |||
| 2020 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | |||
| Outstanding Character Voice Performance – Motion Picture | Soul | |||
| 2022 | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Skeleton Crew | ||
| 2025 | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Purpose | ||
| 1989 | Favorite Female TV Performer | |||
| 1990 | Favorite Female TV Performer | |||
| 1986 | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | The Cosby Show (season two) | ||
| 2008 | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | A Raisin in the Sun | ||
| 2019 | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | This Is Us (episode: "Our Little Island Girl") | ||
| 2020 | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | This is Us (episode: "Flip a Coin") | ||
| 2021 | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | This is Us (episode: "I've Got This") | ||
| 2005 | Best Leading Actress in a Play | Gem of the Ocean | ||
| 2022 | Best Featured Actress in a Play | Skeleton Crew | ||
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