Phylicia Rashād

Acting

Phylicia Rashād

Born 1948-06-19 · Houston, Texas, USA

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.

Acting credits

Soul poster
8.1

Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.

Soul

2020

The Beekeeper poster
7.3

One man's campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers.

The Beekeeper

2024

Creed poster
7.4

The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

Creed

2015

Creed II poster
7.0

Between personal obligations and training for his next big fight against an opponent with ties to his family's past, Adonis Creed is up against the challenge of his life.

Creed II

2018

Creed III poster
7.1

After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed has thrived in his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian Anderson, resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter with nothing to lose.

Creed III

2023

tick, tick... BOOM! poster
7.6

On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.

tick, tick... BOOM!

2021

The Earth Day Special poster
6.1

The Earth Day Special is a television special revolving around Earth Day that aired on ABC on April 22, 1990. Sponsored by Time Warner, the special featured an all-star cast addressing concerns about global warming, deforestation, and other environmental ills.

The Earth Day Special

1990

A Fall from Grace poster
7.0

When a law-abiding woman gets indicted for murdering her husband, her lawyer soon realizes that a larger conspiracy may be at work.

A Fall from Grace

2020

Being Mary Tyler Moore poster
6.7

With unprecedented access to the Mary Tyler Moore Estate, friends, family, and colleagues, Being Mary Tyler Moore constructs an intimate mosaic of Mary's sixty-year career in show business.

Being Mary Tyler Moore

2023

Just Wright poster
6.5

Physical therapist Leslie Wright lands the dream job of working with basketball superstar Scott McKnight, helping him recover from a career-threatening injury. All goes well and soon Leslie finds herself falling in love with him. Just as their friendship deepens, however, Scott focuses his attention back on his tenuous relationship with his ex-fiancé Morgan, Leslie's gorgeous godsister, who would love to be the basketball player's trophy wife.

Just Wright

2010

Ruth & Boaz poster
7.5

A talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.

Ruth & Boaz

2025

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey poster
6.5

An imaginary world comes to life in a holiday tale of an eccentric toymaker, his adventurous granddaughter, and a magical invention that has the power to change their lives forever.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

2020

Emily & Tim poster
5.6

The movie is comprised of six vignettes. A look at the tumultuous marriage of Tim and Emily Hanratty over half a century.

Emily & Tim

2015

Tour de Pharmacy poster
6.7

A mockumentary that chronicles the prevalence of doping in the world of professional cycling.

Tour de Pharmacy

2017

The Babysitter's Seduction poster
5.8

The mother of the family for which Michelle baby-sits dies unexpectedly. Michelle is asked to take over looking after the children and is gradually "seduced" by the father.

The Babysitter's Seduction

1996

The Broad Coalition poster
10.0

A man becomes pregnant in a zany comedy.

The Broad Coalition

1972

VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens poster
NR

We knew the return of Hip-Hop Honors after a six-year hiatus would be huge, but with a surprise from Diddy and some major beef getting squashed, this year was bigger than ever.

VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens

2016

Frankie & Alice poster
5.9

A drama centered on a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder who struggles to remain her true self and begins working with a psychotherapist to uncover the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.

Frankie & Alice

2010

Black Box poster
6.4

After losing his wife and his memory in a car accident, a single father undergoes an experimental treatment that causes him to question who he really is.

Black Box

2020

For Colored Girls poster
6.7

A film about existence from the perspective of 20 nameless black females. Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general and women of color in particular.

For Colored Girls

2010

Our Son poster
6.3

When his husband Gabriel files for divorce, Nicky fights for custody of their 8-year-old son Owen, as he struggles to come to terms with what it means to love someone and what it means to be a father.

Our Son

2023

Steel Magnolias poster
6.9

In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.

Steel Magnolias

2012

Good Deeds poster
6.3

For all his life, wealthy businessman Wesley Deeds has done what's expected of him and has settled into a predictable routine. His scripted life begins to change, however, when he meets Lindsey Wakefield, a struggling single mother who works as a night janitor for his corporation and has just been evicted. He offers to help Lindsey get back on her feet and, though he's already engaged, romantic sparks begin to fly. Suddenly, he finds himself torn between what is expected of him and what he really wants.

Good Deeds

2012

Mickey's 60th Birthday poster
6.8

This film combines live action/original animation and library animation. Mickey steals a magic hat from a Sorcerer and is put under a spell by the angry magi so that no one will recognize him until he finds his own magic within. While Mickey is on his quest, network news teams around the country desperately try to find the famous, beloved mouse who has mysteriously disappeared. On his quest, Mickey pays a visit to the patrons of "Cheers", meets up with the Keatons from "Family Ties", and winds up on Disneyland's Main Street the night before his Birthday celebration is to take place. It is there that he finds he has all the magic inside him that he will ever need. The spell is broken and the Birthday bash commences as the whole World celebrates the beloved Mickey Mouse.

Mickey's 60th Birthday

1988