Early life

Born in Brooklyn, Coles' father was the first black dean at Pratt Institute. She attended a private Lutheran school and was a quiet and studious student until high school, when her sense of humor emerged.

Career

Coles has appeared on many television shows, including Frasier ("Dr." Mary Thomas), Six Feet Under, Celebrity Mole and The Geena Davis Show. Early in her career, she appeared as one of the hosts of It's Showtime at the Apollo. She was an original cast member on the sketch comedy series In Living Color that appeared on the FOX network. After leaving "In Living Color", she then got the role as Synclaire James on Living Single. She appeared as the mother of Spirit on UPN's One on One. Coles is a published author; her book is called I'm Free But It Will Cost You, ISBN 978-0-7868-8322-6, Hyperion Books, 1998.

Coles appeared on Celebrity Mole: Hawaii and was the first contestant to be eliminated. At the reunion of the show, she was one of two celebrities (the other was Michael Boatman) to correctly guess that Frederique van der Wal was the series' saboteur, Kathy Griffin was the winner, and Erik von Detten was the runner-up. Coles also joined other celebrities for a weight loss journey on the VH-1 reality show, Celebrity Fit Club. After 16 weeks, she lost a total of 24 lbs, and dropping nearly 4 percentage points in body fat, going from 34.7% to 31%. She accomplished this with the help of her team, "Ralphie's Angels". She lost 10.2% of her body weight, dropping down to 196 lbs.

Coles was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of To Tell the Truth during its second season. She was also featured as a guest host on two episodes of The View. Coles was a co-host of the syndicated daytime television show In The Loop With iVillage alongside The Apprentice winner Bill Rancic and fellow season one contestant Ereka Vetrini. She has recently joined the cast of 10 Items or Less on TBS.

On September 30, 2009, she hosted the game show Pay It Off, lasted for one season on BET, which is similar to Debt. In 2010, she appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race. She appeared in an episode of TV One's series "Life After" in late 2011.

Coles has also performed as a stand-up comedian, with some of her material dealing with her struggle with being overweight at times.

Impressions

• Robin Givens
• Marla Gibbs
• Cheryl "Salt" James
• Downtown Julie Brown

Personal

Coles has been married twice, From 1985 until 1995 to Aton Edwards; Reggie Mckiver, a former SWAT cop in the Dominican Republic in 2015.

Filmography

• 2012: The Soul Man! .... church member
• 2011: Love That Girl!....therapist
• 2009: Pay It Off (TV)
• 2009: Wig .... Cacey
• 2009: 10 Items or Less .... Mercy (4 episodes, 2009)
• 2007: Hell on Earth (TV) .... Angel
• 2005: Kids in America .... Loretta Jenkins
• 2005: Real Gay (TV) .... Host
• 2002: One on One .... Leilani (Spirit's mother) / ... (5 episodes, 2002-2004)
• 2004: My Wife and Kids .... Childcare Instructor (1 episode, 2004)
• 2004: On-Air with Ryan Seacrest .... On-Air Correspondent (1 episode, 2004)
• 2003: The Parkers .... Florence (1 episode, 2003)
• 2002: Six Feet Under .... Dolores (1 episode, 2002)
• 2000: The Geena Davis Show .... Judy / ... (10 episodes, 2000-2001)
• 2000: Frasier .... Dr. Mary (2 episodes, 2000)
• 1999: New Attitudes TV series .... Host
• 1993: Living Single .... Synclaire James-Jones / ... (117 episodes, 1993-1998)
• 1996: MADtv .... Host (1 episode, 1996)
• 1996: The Show .... Deandra (1 episode, 1996)
• 1995: The Crew .... Synclaire James (1 episode, 1995)
• 1993: Martin .... Bonquisha (season 1, episode 26 (Baby You Can Drive My Car), 1993)
• 1991: Strictly Business .... Millicent
• 1990: In Living Color .... Various (18 episodes, 1990)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]