The Stunning Transformation Of Phylicia Rashad

Phylicia Rashad, known for her unforgettable and totally iconic portrayal as Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show, is undoubtedly a Hollywood and television legend. While most people will never forget her long stint in the hugely popular show, the actress has also proven her dramatic acting chops with a series of highly successful and well-respected roles on stage, including her groundbreaking Tony Award-winning performance in A Raisin in the Sun in 2004 (via Britannica). In addition to acting, Rashad has also turned her focus to directing, and she planned to make her Broadway directing debut in 2020 (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Rashad is certainly a titan of the stage and screen, but many fans will be surprised to learn about how she became the actress and woman she is today. We've taken a look at Rashad's biggest influences and turning points over the years. Here is the stunning transformation of Phylicia Rashad. Spoiler: She's one of many '90s sitcom moms who are unrecognizable today.

Thanks to their mother's influence, the four Ayers children were basically destined for careers in the arts. As Phylicia Rashad explained in an interview with the Archive of American Television, "We were always in the arts." She recalled how their mother would gather them together when they were young to teach them about music notes and reading music using candy Easter eggs. Apparently, she was just 6 years old at the time, but she never forgot it. "That was my first lesson in fractions," she said. As for their childhood artistic influences, Rashad cited shows The Mickey Mouse Club and The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as Sid Caesar.

Nevertheless, even though their mother made sure they were educated in the arts, Rashad did have a few memories of messing around in the mud and climbing trees with her siblings, too!

After finishing high school, Phylicia Rashad attended Howard University's drama department. She explained to the Archive for American Television, "My father ... said you're going to go to Howard University." He then showed her a magazine article about the school's successful drama department. "So I went to Howard University," she said.

As Rashad noted, the training and education she received at Howard taught her a lot about what she would need to do to become a really good actor. She explained that, in those days, Howard had an extensive fine arts department where she received full acting training. "We were plunged into the discipline from the first day," she shared. She went on to explain that her instructors were pretty demanding of their time and energy. "We were in the drama department and we had work to do," she said.

As Rashad said on the university's Charter Day in 2009, a lot about Howard has stayed with her: "Howard University affords not only a structure but a foundation as well for the human being." She went on to say that every student becomes part of an important living legacy.

Phylicia Rashad may not have realized it at the time, but winning the role of Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show would transform her life forever. She explained for the Archive of American Television that Bill Cosby had been looking for someone who could speak Spanish. Luckily, Rashad knows Spanish, and she had a family in her building that was able to help her quickly refine her Spanish in time for the audition. Rashad explained that, even though her audition didn't call for Spanish, she "wanted to be authentic." And luckily, her hard work paid off, as she got into the final round of auditions.

In her third audition, Bill Cosby apparently tested her and challenged her to improvise some Spanish that she hadn't learned in advance, which she did. But Rashad confessed that wasn't the real reason she won the role. "I asked him years later, 'Why did you cast me?'" Apparently, Cosby replied, "Because of that look in your eye." And who could forget that one-of-a-kind Clair Huxtable stare!

Once you learn about Phylicia Rashad's passionate devotion to the arts, it's hardly surprising to discover that she passed it on to her children, just as her mother did for her. Rashad had two children — a son, born in 1973, and a daughter, the actress Condola Rashad, born in 1986. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, the actress who played Clair Huxtable has a long history of playing mothers both on screen and on stage. She explained to WSJ that becoming a mother in real life helped her to bring a certain depth to the mothers she played. "I could look at actresses portraying mothers and I could see who was a mother and who wasn't," she said.

Rashad, her actor sister Debbie Allen, and their daughters spoke to Town & Country about how the families are immersed in the arts. Condola said, "We were included in whatever they were doing, and I aspired to that level of professionalism and love for what they do." She went on to explain that while her mother's passion inspired her, it was Phylicia's mother's influence that is at the root of the family's incredible artist success.

In one of her stage roles, Phylicia Rashad ended up making history. When she played Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 2004, she became the first African American woman to be awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress (via Broadway World). She spoke on the Archive of American Television about the historic award. When asked about being the first Black female winner, she recalled thinking, "What happened, nobody was ever nominated before?" She went on, "The greatest part of [winning the award] for me was having my mother, my sister, and my daughter with me. That was wonderful to share that with them."

She then explained that she almost didn't take the role, but the director convinced her that she'd "bring something new and different." She noted that her portrayal of Lena transformed the character from a stereotypical "strong" mother to a more well-rounded character with a complex backstory. We wish we could have seen this Tony-winning performance for ourselves!

After years of working on stage as an actor, Phylicia Rashad eventually turned her hand to directing. As she explained to Los Angeles Sentinel, she never sought out directing positions — instead, they came to her. "[My directing] didn't start by me saying that, 'I wanted to direct,'" she said. "My venture into directing began with an invitation from Constanza Romero, whose husband was August Wilson." Romero asked Rashad to direct her husband's play Gem of the Ocean. The invitations kept coming, and Rashad found herself adding the label of director to her long list of accomplishments.

She explained to Ebony that the experience of directing was different from acting: "I learn something all the time. I'm learning more about the craft of theater and I'm learning a lot as an actress." It sounds like taking on directing roles actually helped Rashad to further refine her acting skills.

In an interview with Afro Bella, Rashad shared that directing taught her to focus on "every detail of the production," while acting is about "realizing a character and understanding a person." It sounds like all of Rashad's directing opportunities taught her a lot about theater making!

As of 2020, Phylicia Rashad is in her 70s. At an age when many would consider retiring or at least taking a little time off, Rashad isn't showing any signs of slowing down. In fact, the actor and director seems to be busier than ever! In 2020, she starred in an hour-long drama presented by OWN called David Makes Man, according to Variety. She has also been working on American Slavery Project's Black Women and the Ballot, a series of three radio plays. Rashad stars in the play Pulling the Lever (via Deadline). And if that weren't enough, Rashad has been working on a huge project — her revival of Blue, which she was set to direct in 2020, as reported by The New York Times. You can even catch her in the 2020 Netflix holiday called Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (via The Grio). 

It's clear that Rashad has no plans to ease up her schedule any time soon — and we couldn't be more excited to see what the remarkable actor and director comes up with next!