Jennifer Lewis

Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri.

Soon after she arrived in New York City, Lewis began on Broadway in a small role in Eubie, the musical based on the work of Eubie Blake. She next landed the role of Effie White in the workshop of the Michael Bennett-directed musical Dreamgirls, but when the show moved to Broadway, Bennett chose Jennifer Holliday for the role. Undaunted, Lewis accepted a position as a Harlette, a back-up singer for Bette Midler which led to Lewis' first TV appearances on Midler's HBO specials.

She performed the show off-Broadway at the Public Theatre.

In 1987, Lewis was hired as the Pre-Show announcer on the Star Tours ride at Disneyland. In 1988, Lewis relocated to Los Angeles. In 1992, she was cast as one of the back-up singers to Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. Goldberg sponsored several performances of The Diva Is Dismissed as a possible HBO series. In 1992 to 1993, she played Dean Davenport in the sixth and final season of A Different World. She also had a recurring role as Will Smith's Aunt Helen on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, as well as stints on a few episodes of In Living Color, reprising several of her characters from her nightclub act. Also in 1993, she played the mother of Tupac Shakur's character in Poetic Justice.

Although she auditioned for role of Tina Turner in the biopic What's Love Got to Do with It? she landed the role of Turner’s mother. Since 2000, she has played Lana Hawkins on the Lifetime television medical drama Strong Medicine, the show ended February 2006. In 2007, she had a featured role as the wedding planner in Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion.

In one episode of That's So Raven she played the titular character's maternal grandmother, who has psychic powers. She recently starred as a judge in the dramedy Boston Legal and appeared in the 2008 film Meet The Browns. On April 22, 2008, Lewis will replace Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway's Hairspray, a role that was originally written for her.

In May 2005, Lewis discussed losing her beloved cousin, stylist Ronald Stewart, to AIDS. She also mentioned entering psychotherapy following her being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1997. She is the mother of an adopted daughter.