Early life

Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and raised in Harlem, New York, to a Trinidadian mother and African-American father, Harry began studying acting at the High School of the Performing Arts on the Lower East Side in New York City. She was an American History teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School before beginning a career on the New York stage.

Career

Theater

Harry made her Broadway debut in A Broadway Musical, playing a chorine. Throughout the 1980s she starred in numerous productions both on and off Broadway, and in national touring productions. In 1994, Harry made her return to the theater by starring as Billie Holiday in the play Lady Day at Emersons Bar and Grill. Following that stage production, she fulfilled the role of "madam who runs a bordello" in the Broadway musical The Boys from Syracuse. In the mid-2000s, she appeared in stage productions of The Sunshine Boys, Damn Yankees, and A Christmas Carol. She also toured nationally in JD Lawrence's The Clean Up Woman.

Television

In 1983, she made her acting debut in Another World as Lily Mason, a role she continued until 1986. In 2003, she was a surprise guest on the Another World Reunion that SOAPnet coordinated and aired. In 1985, Harry began a co-starring role as Sandra Clark, on the NBC sitcom 227. Her mother, Flossie, celebrated her getting the role but died before the show started airing. During the series run, Jackée and her series' lead, Marla Gibbs began feuding privately over who was the series lead. They have since reconciled and collaborated on a number of projects together. Her performance on 227 inspired NBC producers to create a television pilot for her entitled Jackée. Although the pilot episode was a success with audiences, the series did not last and the episode is now shown as an episode of 227.

After leaving 227 in 1989, Harry starred opposite Oprah Winfrey in the adaptation of Gloria Naylor's novel, The Women of Brewster Place. In 1990, she headlined an NBC comedy pilot from Witt/Thomas titled We'll Take Manhattan; it aired as a summer special that year, but did not make it to series. In late 1991, she joined the cast of The Royal Family after the star, Redd Foxx, unexpectedly died. She starred opposite two-time 227 guest-star Della Reese. In 1992, she starred as the assistant coach in Ladybugs. Harry served as a guest panelist on the 2000 revival of To Tell the Truth and appeared on the second season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club 2 in 2005. From 1994 until 1999, Harry played Lisa Landry, the adoptive mother of Tia Mowry's character, on the sitcom Sister, Sister.

She had a recurring role as Vanessa on The CW series Everybody Hates Chris and had a recurring role on the BET Series Let's Stay Together. She is starring in Byron Allen's Syndicated Sitcom The First Family which also features Marla Gibbs in a recurring role. On April 12, 2013, it was announced that she was cast in the episodes "Girl Meets Crazy Hat" and the pilot of Disney sitcom Girl Meets World. Later, she also appeared on "Girl Meets Demolition". That same year, she also joined Gibbs in the movie Forbidden Woman. In 2014 she made a guest appearance on Instant Mom as her character Lisa Landry.

Awards

Harry became the first African American to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for 227 in 1987. She won NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Sister, Sister two consecutive years in 1999 and 2000.

Personal life

Harry has been married four times, once was to Elgin Charles Williams from 1996 to 2003. They adopted their son, Frank, in 1997.

On January 11, 2016, Harry, along with her former 227 series' lead, mentor and long-time friend, Marla Gibbs, attended the funeral of Grammy-Award winning singer Natalie Cole, at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, California, following her death at the end of 2015.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984	Moscow on the Hudson	Woman	Uncredited
	The Cotton Club	Dancer
1986	Alvin Goes Back to School	Gina Lipman	TV movie
1987	Alf Loves a Mystery	Countess
	The Incredible Ida Early	Ida Early
1988	Crash Course	Edna Savage
	The Cheech Show	Sheila
1989	Double Your Pleasure	Linda Cavanaugh / Sharlene Cavanaugh
	Jackée	Sandra Clark
	The Women of Brewster Place	Etta Mae
1990	We'll Take Manhattan	Yvonne
1992	Ladybugs	Julie Benson
1993	Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun	Charmayne	Direct-to-video
2003	The Nick at Nite Holiday Special	Jackée / The Baker	TV movie
2004	You Got Served	Mama
2006	All You've Got	Butt shorts salesman	TV movie
2007	The Last Day of Summer	Lola the Lobster
2009	Man of Her Dreams	Louise Smith	Stage play
	G.E.D.	Mama
2010	Christmas Cupid	Vivian	TV movie
	The Clean Up Woman	Jasmine	Stage play
	Knight to D7	Nurse Hamilton	Short film
2011	The Ideal Husband	Vivian Peterson	TV movie
	Nurse Jackée	Nurse Jackée	Short film
2012	Brother White	Veena	TV movie
	Switchin' the Script	Mrs. Shepard
2013	The Coalition	Grandmother Hathaway	Direct-to-video
	The Sins of Deacon Whyles	Mom
	The Love Letter	Josephine	TV movie
	Forbidden Woman	Sheila
2014	Knock 'Em Dead	Savannah
	The Dirty 30	Linda
2015	The Man in 3B	Miss Bertha
TV shows and appearances
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983-86	Another World	Lily Mason	Main role
1985-89	227	Sandra Clark	Main role (Seasons 1-4); recurring role (season 5)
1988-89	Amen	Roxanne Farley / Florence Hawkins	"A Slight Case of Murder (Pt. 1)" (Season 2, Episode 20) "A Slight Case of Murder (Pt. 2)" (Season 2, Episode 21) "Don't Rain on My Shower" (Season 4, Episode 7)
1990	TGIF	Lisa
1991-92	The Royal Family	Ruth 'CoCo' Royal	Main role (episodes 8-15)
1992	Designing Women	Vanessa Chamberlain	"Shades of Vanessa" (Season 6, Episode 23)
1994	Dave's World	Estelle	"Saved by Estelle" (Season 1, Episode 23)
1994-99	Sister, Sister	Lisa Landry	Main role
1995-97	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Giant's Wife / Little Bo Peep	"Jack and the Beanstalk" (Season 1, Episode 1) "Mother Goose" (Season 2, Episode 13)
1996	Unhappily Ever After	Ms. Blake, guidance counselor	"Girls Who Wear Glasses" (Season 2, Episode 20)
2000	Twice in a Lifetime	Darcy Green / Louise Lutrelle	"Used Hearts" (Season 2, Episode 11)
2003	7th Heaven	Ms. Beane	"It's Not Always About You" (Season 7, Episode 13)
2005	That's So Raven	Dava	"Goin' Hollywood" (Season 3, Episode 31)
	One on One	Sherri St. Croix	"Waiting for Huffman" (Season 5, Episode 10)
2006-09	Everybody Hates Chris	Vanessa	Recurring role
2008	The Mighty B!	Nurse	Voice; "Bee Patients" (Season 1, Episode 13)
2010	Friends & Lovers	Omar's Mother	(Season 1, Episode 3) (Season 1, Episode 4)
2011	She's Still Not Our Sister	Connie
2011-13	Let's Stay Together	Delores Whitmore	"There Goes the Groom" (Season 1, Episode 9) "Together, Forever-Ever?" (Season 1, Episode 13) "Sickness Protection Program" (Season 2, Episode 6) "An Even More Indecent Proposal" (Season 2, Episode 14) "Kita's Got a Gun" (Season 3, Episode 9)
2012-present	The First Family	Pauletta Birdsong	Main role
2012	For Richer or Poorer	Mrs. Henderson	"Ex Files" (Season 1, Episode 1) "The Switch" (Season 1, Episode 2)
	Are We There Yet?	Jackée	"The Ghost Dog Episode" (Season 3, Episode 16)
2013	Celebrity Ghost Stories	Herself	(Season 4)
	American Dad!	Shonteeva's assistant	"For Black Eyes Only" (Season 8, Episode 13)
	How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)	Jessoka	"How to Help the Needy" (Season 1, Episode 12)
	Wanda Sykes Presents Herlarious	Mrs. Jordan
2014	Glee	Herself	"City of Angels" (Season 5, Episode 11)
	Instant Mom	Lisa Landry	"Not Your Mother's Day" (Season 1, Episode 20)
	One Love	Nurse Beverly	"Tea-Ball" (Season 1, Episode 7)
2014-present	Girl Meets World	Evelyn Rand	Recurring role
2015-present	In the Cut	Nadine	Main role
2015	Family Time	Gladys	"Hospitality" (Season 2, Episode 4)
	Baby Daddy	Judge Johnson	"Lowering the Bar" (Season 4, Episode 16)
	Transformers: Robots in Disguise	Zizza	"The Buzz on Windblade" (Season 1, Episode 23)
	Young & Hungry	JoJo	"Young & Christmas" (Season 2, Episode 21)
2016	2 Broke Girls	Ruby	one episode

[ Source: Wikipedia ]