Biography

Early life and Education

Watts' mother, Dr. Velma Gibson Watts, was an associate dean at Wake Forest University and her father, Roland Watts, was chairman of Winston-Salem State University's Fine Arts Department. Watts attended Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as a teenager. She is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and graduated Magna Cum Laude. In 1981, she earned a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Career

After graduating from Columbia, Watts returned to North Carolina and began her career as a general assignment reporter at WFMY-TV in Greensboro, North Carolina. She later worked at WNBC, where she was nominated for an Emmy, and WABC-TV in New York as an anchor of a weekly political forum and reporter. In 1987, she began working as a host of Attitudes, a talk show on Lifetime Television. The next year, she took a job on the newsmagazine Inside Edition as a senior correspondent, weekend anchor and producer. King World Productions, the syndicator of Inside Edition and also The Oprah Winfrey Show, then asked her to start her own talk show. Rolonda aired for nearly four seasons from January 17, 1994 to September 1997. Watts was also supervising producer and one of the owners of the show. In a 2003 interview with Soap Opera Digest, Watts said she folded the show rather than lose her integrity. "Audiences were saying, 'Well, that was really nice of you to be so respectful, but where's Jerry ?' We had to make a tough decision, either we go that route or we find something else to do." After leaving her talk show behind, Watts headed to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting. Her first break was in 1997 when she was cast as Vivica Shaw in Sister, Sister, a role she played for six episodes. Since then Watts has had guest starring roles in dozens of television shows, including The West Wing, JAG, The District Yes, Dear, and soap operas Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful. In 2002, Soap Opera Digest named her "Scene Stealer of the Week" for her role as the cut-throat Attorney Cameron Reese on Days of our Lives. Watts is also the CEO/president of her own production company, Watts Works Productions, which co-produced her talk show Rolonda. In 2005, she hosted Lie Detector, a reality series for PAX-TV. That same year, she took over as announcer on Judge Joe Brown. She also appeared on Live With Regis and Kelly where she traveled cross-country as a judge for the show's "Great American Co-Host Search." In October 2006, Watts returned to her talk-show roots. She signed with GreenStone Media, a radio network launched by feminists Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, to host an afternoon radio show. She hosted the show until the network's closure in August 2007. Subsequently, Watts was the announcer for the game show Temptation from September 2007 to May 2008. As of 2011, Watts is the voice of Professor Wiseman in the PBS Kids animated program Curious George. She voices "Gladys" in the Nickelodeon series, "The Penguins of Madagascar." Watts is currently shooting two films, with five others waiting for release, including her first starring role in A Mother's Love and leading roles in Christmas Mail, House Arrest, Soul Ties, Broken Roads and 25 Hill, a film written and produced by Corbin Bernsen. In the short film Return to Babylon, Watts portrays Josephine Baker; in Defying the Stars. she plays Hollywood legend Dorothy Dandridge. She was recently playing as the role of Betsy Holiday in Tyler Perry's first animated film Madea's Tough Love.

Film

Year	Title	Role
1996	Girl 6	Reporter Nita
1996	The Stupids	Talk Show Hostess
1997	Meet Wally Sparks	Herself
2010	Christmas Mail	Sally Covington
2011	Tim Alexander's A Mother's Love	Regina Reynolds
2011	25 Hill	Mrs. Banner
2012	House Arrest	Parole Officer Grimes
2012	I Will Follow You Into The Dark	Eunice
2012	Broken Roads	Shirley
2013	Return to Babylon	Josephine Baker
2013	House Party: Tonight's the Night	Victoria
2015	Madea's Tough Love	Betsy Holiday

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Life Stories: Families in Crisis	Reporter	Season 1, Episode 5 Blood Brothers: The Joey DiPaolo Story (HBO)
1998	Smart Guy	Lydia	Season 3, Episode 5 That's My Momma (WB)
1997-98	Sister, Sister	Vivica Shaw	Six Episodes, (WB)
1999	The Jamie Foxx Show	Bonita Walters	Season 3, Episode 19 Fire and Desire Pt.2 (WB)
2000	The Steve Harvey Show	Janet	Season 4, Episode 13 Guess Who's Not Coming to Counseling (WB)
2000	The West Wing	Melissa	Season 1, Episode 17 The White House Pro-Am (NBC)
2000	Rude Awakening	Lawyer	Season 3, Episode 6 Me, Myself and I (Showtime)
2001	The Division	Doctor	Season 1, Episode 6 Secrets and Lies
2001	7th Heaven	Sylvia Carter	Two Episodes, (WB)
2001	The District	Mrs. Waters	Season 2, Episode 10 Thursday (CBS)
2002	For Your Love	Dr. Covington	Season 5, Episode 1 The "What I Done" Show (WB)
2002-08	Days of Our Lives	Cameron Reese	13 Episodes (NBC)
2003	One on One	Dr. Taylor	Season 2, Episode 15 The Test (UPN)
2003	Maniac Magee	Mrs. Beale	TV Movie, (Nickelodeon)
2003	Boston Public	Monica Clemens	Season 3, Episode 20 Chapter Sixty-Four (Fox)
2003	The Proud Family	Reshanda Watson	Season 3, Episode 4 Election (Disney Channel)
2003	The Bold and the Beautiful	Julie Shoemaker	Five Episodes, (CBS)
2004	Yes, Dear	Sylvia	Season 4, Episode 16 Dead Aunt, Dead Aunt (CBS)
2004	Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide	Ms. Morrison	Season 1, Episode 3 Teachers and Detention (Nickelodeon)
2004	My Wife and Kids	Angeline Boudreaux	Season 5, Episode 6 Poker Face (ABC)
2004	JAG	Judge Deborah Mayfield	Season 10, Episode 7 Camp Delta (CBS)
2005	Complete Savages	Claire	Season 1, Episode 18 Bad Reception (ABC)
2007	Temptation (2007 Game Show)	Announcer	TV Game Show, (ABC)
2008	Can You Teach My Alligator Manners	Mrs. Sullivan (Voice)	Season 1, Episodes 6 Classroom Manners (Disney Channel)
2008-10	Curious George	Prof. Wiseman (Voice)	Four Episodes, (PBS)
2009	Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas	Prof. Wiseman (Voice)	TV Movie, (PBS)
2011-12	The Penguins of Madagascar	Gladys (Voice)	Three Episodes, (Nickelodeon)
2012	Good Luck Charlie	Diane Van der Weiss	Season 3, Episode 3 Amy Needs a Shower (Disney Channel)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]