With her almond-shaped eyes and earthy intensity, Alexander possesses a disarmingly composed manner that often makes the characters she play appear more secure than they really are. Before nabbing the role of the calculating Maxine Shaw on the Fox sitcom "Living Single" (1993-97), Alexander made her TV series debut as Clair Huxtable's (Phylicia Rashad) 17-year-old less-privileged second cousin Pam on the last two seasons of "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1990-1992). When that show's run ended, she showed up the following season as the proud but insecure medical student Cheryl Carter on the short-lived series "Going To Extremes" (ABC). But before TV discovered Alexander, she was already something of a seasoned show business trouper. In the second week of her freshman year at New York University, she dropped out to accept a role in Peter Brook's acclaimed "The Mahabaharta" (1987) in which she toured internationally for a year. Alexander then recreated her part for the film version shot in Paris.Upon her return to New York she garnered a featured role in Joseph Papp's Public Theater production of Bill Gunn's "The Forbidden City" (1989). Other noteworthy performances followed in the CBS miniseries "Common Ground" (1990), the ABC Afterschool Special "Roy's Baby" and the ABC movie "The Last Best Year of My Life" (1990) opposite Mary Tyler Moore.
After producing and directing a successful acting showcase in New York in 1992, Alexander launched her own production company.
Profession(s):
Actor, manager
Sometimes Credited As:
Education
Philadelphia High School for Girls Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
New York University New York, New York
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series "Living Single" 1996
2006 Had a recurring role on the FX series, "Heist"
2006 Co-starred with Denzel Washington in director Tony Scott's "DéjÀ Vu"
2002 Returned to series TV as co-star of the Showtime drama "Street Time"
2001 Had leading role in the Sundance-screened "30 Years to Life"
1999 Appeared as Bianca in the New Yrok Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Taming of the Shrew" in Central Park (summer)
1993 Launched her own production company, Two Hands and a Mouthful
1990 - 1992 TV series debut as a regular, "The Cosby Show" (NBC)
1989 Off-Broadway debut, Joseph Papp's Public Theater production of Bill Gunn's "The Forbidden City"
1988 Re-created role for film version of "The Mahabaharta" shot in Paris
1987 New York stage debut, Peter Brook's "The Mahabaharata"; also toured the world
1986 Feature film debut in "My Little Girl"
Had a peripatetic childhood as her father was an itinerant preacher
Family settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Co-starred on Fox sitcom "Living Single"
