Mariann Aalda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since December 2006. |
A graduate of Southern Illinois University and the Negro Ensemble Company theater training program -- with Robert Townsend and Laurence Fishburne as classmates -- Mariann made her New York stage debut with Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis in The New Federal Theatre production of Take It from the Top. From there she segued into improv and sketch comedy with The Proposition and Off-Center Theatre. But she is primarily known for her work in television: a long-running role in the ABC soap opera, Edge of Night, as the popular “DiDi Bannister;” co-starring in the films Class Act, Nobody’s Perfect, and The Wiz (cult-classics from endless TV re-runs); and series regular roles on the CBS sitcom, The Royal Family, as the daughter of Redd Foxx and Della Reese, and HBO’s First and 10, playing the wife of O.J. Simpson; along with high-profile recurring roles on NBC’s Sunset Beach as the tragically disfigured, “Lena Hart,” and CBS’s Designing Women, as Anthony’s notoriously uppity girlfriend, “Lita Ford.” She also co-hosted the lifestyle show, Designs for Living, for the USA Network and was a reporter for Now! an entertainment news show for WNBC-TV, N.Y. In addition to being one of the three writer-producer-performing partners of 3 Blacque Chix, with Iona Morris and Lola Love, in the “sexistential comedy," Herotique-Aahh…, she also writes a humor-infused “ethnic etiquette” advice column with writer-producer, Karen Greyson, for BlackBerrySpeak.com.
