Marla Gibbs

Marla Gibbs is an American performer who has worked as an actress, singer, comedian, writer and television producer. Born in Chicago, she moved to Los Angeles in 1963 and first acted in local black theater before her early 1970s screen work in blaxploitation films, including Black Belt Jones (1974). She became known for playing Florence Johnston, the maid on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, from 1975 to 1985, earning five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Gibbs also starred in the spin-off Checking In and the NBC sitcom 227, which she co-produced, headlined as Mary Jenkins and sang its theme song. She won seven NAACP Image Awards. Her later films included The Meteor Man (1993), Lost & Found (1999), The Brothers (2001) and Madea's Witness Protection (2012). She appeared on Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy and played Olivia Price on Days of Our Lives. In 2021 the Hollywood Walk of Fame awarded her a star.