Interviewing Jenifer Lewis | BHL’s Portraits

BHL: Portraits -- In this episode, Black Hollywood Live hosts DJ Jesse Janedy and Courtney Stewart interview special guest Jenifer Lewis.

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.

In 1993, she played the role of Tina Turner’s mother in the biopic What's Love Got to Do With It. In 1994, she followed with other supporting role