Shari Headley

Shari Headley (born July 15, 1964) is an American actress and former model. She is best known for her role as Lisa McDowell in the 1988 box-office hit romantic comedy film Coming to America and its sequel Coming 2 America (2021). Headley also has appeared in films The Preacher's Wife (1996) and Johnson Family Vacation (2004). On television, Headley starred as Detective Mimi Reed in the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children on a regular basis from 1991 to 1994. As lead actress, she starred in the Fox short-lived drama series 413 Hope St. (1997–1998), for which she received NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series nomination. From 2014 to 2016, Headley starred as villainous Jennifer Sallison in the Oprah Winfrey Network primetime soap opera The Haves and the Have Nots. Born in Queens, New York City, Headley is the youngest of four children. She is of part Trinidadian descent. Headley's father worked as a dental technician, and had wanted his daughter to be a doctor. In college, she was a premedical student, minoring in drama and performing in school plays.