Debbie Allen

Actors/Directors
Yates High School c/o 1967

Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, A Different World, Sister of Phylicia Rashād

Biography

Debbie Allen (born Deborrah Kaye Allen on January 16, 1950) is an American actress, choreographer, television director, television producer, and a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She is best known for her role as Lydia Grant in the hit television series, Fame. Her mother, Vivia Allen, moved her children away from the USA and down to Mexico to escape prejudice. Her father was Cherokee Native American

Allen was born in Houston, Texas and went on to earn a B.A. degree in classical Greek literature, speech, and theater from Howard University. She holds honoris causa Doctors from from Howard and the North Carolina School for the Arts. She currently teaches young dancers at her Debbie Allen Dance Academy. She also taught choreography to former L.A. Laker dancer-turned singer, Paula Abdul. Her daughter, Vivian Nixon, played Kalimba in the Broadway production of Hot Feet. She graduated from Jack Yates Senior high school in 1967.

She is the sister of Phylicia Rashād, and is married to former NBA player Norm Nixon.[1] She and Nixon have two children, Vivian (born 1984) and Norm Jr (born 1987). She was once married to Winnefred Wilford. She got divorced in 1983 because of the pressures of their careers.