Tracee Ellis Ross Biography

Tracee Ellis Ross (born October 29, 1972) is an American actress, model, comedian, producer and television host.

The daughter of singer/actress Diana Ross, Ross began her career acting in independent films, variety series and hosted the pop-culture magazine The Dish on Lifetime. From 2000 to 2008, she played the leading role as Joan Clayton on the UPN/CW comedy series Girlfriends, for which she received two NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also has appeared in films Hanging Up (2000), I-See-You.Com (2006), and Daddy's Little Girls (2007), before returning to television playing Dr. Carla Reed on the BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines, for which she received her third NAACP Image Award.

In 2014, Ross began starring as Dr. Rainbow Johnson in the ABC comedy series Black-ish. The role brought her two more NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as nominations for a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Early life

Born Tracee Joy Silberstein in Los Angeles, California, she is the daughter of Motown singer/actress Diana Ross and music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein. Actor and musician Evan Ross is her half-brother. Her father is Jewish-American and her mother is African-American. Ross attended The Dalton School in Manhattan and the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. She was a model in her teens. She attended Brown University, where she appeared in plays, and graduated in 1994 with a theatre degree. She later worked in the fashion industry, as a model and contributing fashion editor to Mirabella and New York magazine.

Career

Ross made her big screen debut in 1996, playing a Jewish/African-American woman in the independent feature film Far Harbor. Also in 1996, she was featured as one of the ten dancers in the video of the worldwide chart-topping hit Macarena. The following year, she debuted as host of The Dish, a Lifetime TV magazine series keeping tabs on popular culture. In 1998, she starred as a former high school track star who remained silent about having been abused at the hands of a coach, in the NBC made-for-TV movie Race Against Fear: A Moment of Truth. Her next role was an independent feature film Sue. In 2000, she landed her first major studio role in Diane Keaton's Hanging Up. The same year, she broke into comedy as a regular performer in the MTV series The Lyricist Lounge Show, a hip-hop variety series mixing music, dramatic sketches, and comedic skits.

Ross' biggest career achievement came when she landed the lead role in the hit UPN/CW series Girlfriends in which she starred as the show's main protagonist Joan Carol Clayton "? a successful (and often neurotic) lawyer looking for love, challenges, and adventure. The series centered on four (later three) young African-American women, and their male best friend. In 2007, Ross won an NAACP Image Award in the category, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the series. She won a second Image Award for the role in 2009.

In 2007, Ross starred with her brother Evan Ross and Queen Latifah in the HBO movie Life Support, That same year, she appeared in the Tyler Perry theatrical movie, Daddy's Little Girls. She appeared in the 2009 film Labor Pains. In 2010, she appeared in an episode of Private Practice as a pregnant doctor. In 2011, Ross appeared in four episodes of CSI as the estranged wife of Laurence Fishburne's character. Ross starred in the sitcom, Reed Between the Lines, with Malcolm-Jamal Warner airing on BET starting in October 2011. She won a third NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012 for her performance in the series. In August 2012, it was announced that Ross would not return for Season Two. In 2011, she appeared in the Lifetime film Five directed by Alicia Keys. The performance in film earned her nominations for a NAACP Image Award and Black Reel Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series. In 2012, Ross starred in the NBC drama pilot Bad Girls.

In 2014, Ross was cast in the ABC comedy series, Black-ish, opposite Anthony Anderson. She plays the female lead role of Dr. Rainbow Johnson. The series debuted with generally positive reviews from critics. Ross received two NAACP Image Awards and received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her performance in the series.

In 2015 Ross was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine art (honoris causa) by Brown University.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Far Harbor	Kiki
1997	Sue Lost in Manhattan	Linda
1998	A Fare to Remember
2000	Hanging Up	Kim
2000	In the Weeds	Caroline
2006	I-See-You.Com	Nancy Tanaka
2007	Daddy's Little Girls	Cynthia

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Race Against Fear	Kaycee King	Television film
2000	The Lyricist Lounge Show	Various roles
2000-2008	Girlfriends	Joan Clayton	Series regular, 172 episodes
2004	Second Time Around	Naomi	Episode: "A Kiss Is Still a Kiss"
2007	Life Support	Tanya	Television film
2009	Labor Pains	Kristin	Television film
2010	Private Practice	Ellen	Episode: "War"
2011	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Gloria Parkes	Recurring role, 4 episodes
2011	Reed Between the Lines	Dr. Carla Reed	Series regular, 25 episodes
2011	Five	Alyssa	Television film; segment "Lili"
2012	Bad Girls	Rachel	TV pilot
2014-present	Black-ish	Dr. Rainbow "Bow" Johnson	Series regular
2016	Broad City	Winona	Episode: "Jews on a Plane"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2002	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2003	Prism Award	Best Performance in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2003	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2004	BET Comedy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2004	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2005	BET Comedy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2005	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2006	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2007	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2008	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2009	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2009	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2012	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	Five
2012	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Reed Between the Lines
2012	Black Reel Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series	Five
2012	NAMIC Vision Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Reed Between the Lines
2015	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Black-ish
2015	BET Awards	Best Actress	Black-ish
2015	Ewwy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy series	Black-ish
2016	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Actress in a Comedy Series	Black-ish
2016	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Black-ish
2016	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Black-ish