Viewing page 44 of 292

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[image]] Honorees
[[image]] LISA BONET

"Denise," the 17-year-old, on-the-verge-of-womanhood Huxtable daughter, who knows how to use her smarts and good looks to win her father and everyone else over, is a role played well by Lisa Bonet.

Ironically, Bonet thought she didn't stand a chance at winning the role after overhearing someone at the audition say she would never get the part. Well she did, and viewers enjoy her weekly performances and the spontaneous fashion show provided by her avant gardely clad character.

This is Bonet's first continuous role in a major television series.  Prior to "The Cosby Show," she was featured in NBC-TV's "St. Elsewhere" and was a recurring character in the series "The Two of Us."  She has also appeared in "The Battle of the Network Stars."

Bonet has studied at the Celluloid Actor's Studio in North Hollywood and plans to be a director in the future.


[[image]] SABRINA LE BEAUF

With her character away at college, audiences were unfamiliar with Sondara Huxtable played by Sabrina Le Beauf.  "Sondra" was not introduced to the audience until the Thanksgiving 1984 episode.  However, next season, audiences learned more about the eldest Huxtable child and her trials as a college sophomore at Princeton University.

Despite her late introduction to viewers, Le Beauf has been involved with the show since its beginning and read for the actresses in the original casting of the show.  When Sondra's role was created she auditioned and won the part, her network television debut.

Le Beauf has a degree in theatre arts from UCLA and a Master of Find Arts degree in Acting from the prestigious Yale School of Drama.  She has also been featured in "The Philanderer" and "Beef, No Chicken" in the Yale Repertory Theatre, and is an alumnus of the Eugene O'Neill National Playwright's Conference(1984-1985).


[[image]] KESHIA KNIGHT PULLIAM

Kiesha Knight Pulliam plays Rudy Huxtable,"an adorable heartbreaker" who is not too little to know exactly what is going on in her household or to have her say about it, to perfection.

Despite her young age, Pulliam is known on the set for hardly every flubbing her lines and is a quick study in learning new ones, a significant feat in that she learned to read just in the past season.

Her show business start come at the age of eight months when she appeared in her first print ad for baby powder. Since then she has appeared in numerous print ads and television commercials.

Pulliam has appeared in episodes of "Sesame Street," as well as in "Night of 100 Stars II," and the NBC-TV special "Motown Returns to the Apollo." In addition, she had a feature role in the movie, "The Last Dragon."

While Pulliam has a promising start as an actress, she says she wants to be a doctor because "I want to be able to help all people and make them feel good."


[[image]] MALCOM-JAMAL WARNER

As the only son in the Huxtable family, Malcom-Jamal Warner's "Theo" is a laid-back, easygoing teen whose answer to any obstacle in his way is "no problem." Warner says although his character is funny and smart and believes in taking the easy way out, "I think that everything can have a solution if you work at it."

That attitude has helped Warner to achieve early success in his acting, which started with a local theater group in Los Angeles, CA. Shortly, he began getting lead roles in notable productions such as "Little People" and "Alice, Is That You?" at the Inglewood Playhouse there. He also appeared in "In Command of the Children," with Kim Fields, another NBC_TV alumnus.

Warner's other television work has included a recurring role in the PBS series "The Eye of the Storm," and guest appearances on "Fame" and "Call to Glory." He has also appeared on the specials "Night of 100 Stars II" and "Motown Returns to the Apollo."


[[image]] PHYLICIA RASHAD

Phylicia Rashad's "Clair" is the heartbeat of the Huxtable family, at all times warm and loving but with an inner reserve of strength and determination that holds the family together. Rashad says "A sense of family is very important to me." and adds that even before the show went on air and the pilot was being shot, she and her other costars became a family.

Rashad is no stranger to television. She previously played the role of Courtney Wright on the daytime serial "One Life to Live," and has had roles in episodes of "Delvecchio" and "Watch Your Mouth."

Also familiar with Broadway, Rashad appeared in "The Wiz," and "Dreamgirls." Her off-Broadway theater roles, in which she began her acting career, include, "Weep Not for Me," "Zooman and the Sign" and "Zora."

An accomplished dancer whose sister is the actress choreographer Debbie Allen , Rashad trained at the New York School of Ballet and is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Howard University where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

She was also the model for the black doctor featured in one of the National Urban League's "Everybody Deserves a Chance to Make it on Their Own," public service advertising campaign posters.


[[image]] TEMPESTT BLEDSOE

Portraying Vanessa Huxtable, the bright, self-assured and outgoing 10-year-old daughter of the family, is second nature to Tempestt Bledsoe, who possesses those very same qualities.

In real life, Bledsoe has demonstrated outstanding ability in handwriting and strenuous demands of a weekly television series as well as the academic rigors of the school she attends for exceptional children.

The remarkable poise she exhibits on and off the screen is derives partially from her experience as a department store model.

In the entertainment business since the age of five, Bledsoe has appeared in an educational movie for the Encyclopedia Britannica and in numerous commercials.

Bledsoe is also an accomplished jingle singer whose voice can be heard often in today's commercials.

Transcription Notes:
There are four images along the left side of the page without captions. I have only marked these with the first mention of images. Each honoree also has an image.