Lewis is known for playing roles of mothers in the films What\'s Love Got to Do With It (1993), Poetic Justice (1993), The Preacher\'s Wife (1996), The Brothers (2001), Think Like a Man and in the sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014), Baggage Claim (2013), and The Wedding Ringer (2015), as well as in The Temptations TV miniseries (1998). As such, Lewis earned the title, "Black Mother of Hollywood". She also provided the voice for Mama Odie in Disney\'s animated feature, The Princess and the Frog (2009). Additional film roles include Dead Presidents (1995), Cast Away (2000), and Hereafter (2010).\n', '

On television, Lewis starred as Lana Hawkins in the Lifetime medical drama Strong Medicine from 2000 to 2006. She also had the recurring roles on sitcoms A Different World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Girlfriends. In 2014, Lewis began starring as Ruby Johnson in the ABC comedy series, Black-ish, for which she received two Critics\' Choice Television Award nominations.\n', '

Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri, to a nurse\'s aide mother, Dorothy, and a factory worker father. Lewis is the youngest of seven children. She sang in her church choir at the age of five. She attended Kinloch High School and then college at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri. She would later receive an honorary degree from Webster in 2015. After college, she moved to New York to focus on her career in performing.\n', '

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