Erika Alexander
Biography
Erika Alexander is an American actress, writer, and producer. Born in Winslow, Arizona, she was 14 when Merchant Ivory discovered her during a summer acting workshop at the New Freedom Theatre. She made her major film debut as Joan in My Little Girl (1986) and later appeared in Peter Brook's nine-hour stage epic The Mahabharata. In 1990 she acted alongside Whoopi Goldberg in the drama The Long Walk Home, then played Pam Tucker on The Cosby Show from 1990 to 1992. From 1993 to 1998 she portrayed attorney Maxine Shaw on Living Single, winning two NAACP Image Awards for her comedy performance. Her later films include 54 (1998), Déjà Vu (2006), Get Out (2017), American Refugee (2021), Earth Mama (2023), and American Fiction (2023), the last earning her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance. She has also written comics and an Audible true-crime series.
56years old
Turns 57 on November 19in 38 days
- Born Winslow
- Star sign: ScorpioThe sign runs October 23 to November 21
- Erika Rose Alexander (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 17
- Career span
- 36 years1990 to 2026
First and latest
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Beyond film
Alexander took on the roles of Madri and Hidimbaa in 1989. That year she appeared in Peter Brook's adaptation of The Mahabharata, a play that ran nine hours.
Beyond film
Alexander also appeared in Bill Gunn's The Forbidden City, which Joseph Papp directed and which was his final play. Gloria Foster, Frankie Faison and Akili Prince were also in the cast.
A role that slipped away
From 2012 to 2015, Alexander had a recurring part as Carol Larabee, the neighbor of Mike and Vanessa, on the ABC comedy Last Man Standing. During season seven, Tisha Campbell-Martin took over that role.
Erika Alexander movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Three actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Catherine Keener's page
Sam Trammell's page
Sterling K. Brown's page
Box office
What Erika Alexander's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$494 million
8 of the 17 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 17 films: 8 worldwide figure; 3 us gross only; 2 never in cinemas; 4 figure not found.
- 8Worldwide figure
- 3US gross only
- 2Never in cinemas
- 4Figure not found
Top grosser
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$255M51.8% of the total
- 2$181M36.6% of the total
- 3$22M4.6% of the total
- 4$17M3.4% of the total
- 5$9.8M2.0% of the total
- 6$4.9M1.0% of the total
- 7$3.4M0.7% of the total
- 8$223K0.0% of the total
Awards
Four awards and honors from 1996 to 2017.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other honors | |||
| 2017 | Phoenix Film Festival | Brave New Jersey | Won |
| 2002 | Black Reel Awards | 30 Years to Life | Won |
| 1998 | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Living Single | Won |
| 1996 | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Living Single | Won |
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.