Khandi Alexander is an American dancer, choreographer, and TV/Film actress who portrays Maya Lewis on Scandal.
Early life
Khandi Alexander was born in New York City and educated at Queensborough Community College. She appeared on Broadway, starring in Chicago, Bob Fosse's Dancin and Dreamgirls. She was a choreographer for Whitney Houston's world tour from 1988–1992, and also appeared as a dancer in Natalie Cole's video for "Pink Cadillac" in 1988.
Career
Since the early 1990s, Alexander has concentrated on film and TV, playing the character Catherine Duke on NewsRadio - a role she left after the start of season 4. She made a guest appearance in the episode after Phil Hartman's death. She also played the recurring character Jackie Robbins on ER. She is known for her starring role as Fran, a mother addicted to drugs in the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries The Corner. She portrayed the character Alexx Woods, a medical examiner, in the forensics-related drama CSI: Miami for 6 seasons as a series regular.
Alexander has made guest appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NYPD Blue, Third Watch, Cosby, Better off Ted and La Femme Nikita. She starred in the movie CB4with Chris Rock and Charlie Murphy. Other film credits include Dark Blue, Sugar Hill, Menace II Society, House Party 3, There's Something About Mary, Rain, Poetic Justice, and the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got To Do With It, where she portrayed an Ikette.
Alexander left the CBS hit show CSI: Miami shortly before the end of the 2007-2008 season. Her final appearance aired Monday, May 5, 2008 ("Rock and a Hard Place"). On February 2, 2009, she returned to the role of Alexx Woods for a guest appearance in the episode "Smoke Gets In Your CSI's". She later returned again as Alexx Woods for more guest appearances in the episodes "Out of Time" on September 21, 2009 and "Bad Seed" on October 19, 2009.
From 2010 to 2013, Alexander starred in the award-winning HBO television series by David Simon, Treme, where she played a bar owner in an affected neighborhood of post-Katrina New Orleans. The series ended after four seasons.
Awards and Nominations
- Won: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - Khandi Alexander (NAACP Image Awards 2015)
- Nominated: Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series - Khandi Alexander (Emmys 2015)
Gallery
- → See and enjoy 11 pictures of Khandi Alexander at Images of Khandi Alexander.
External links
- Khandi Alexander at the Internet Movie Database
- Khandi Alexander on Wikipedia