Debra Wilson
Biography
Biography
Although most people will recognize comedian/actress Debra Wilson from her many years on the sketch comedy program "MADtv" (where she was an original cast member), she has had quite a varied career in show business. After attending Syracuse University's communications school in radio and television broadcasting, she began as a standup comic in New York City in the late 1980s and was a performer with the off-Broadway improvisational troupe Noo Yawk Tawk. She got her first television break doing her act on "The Uptown Comedy Club" and "The Apollo Comedy Hour" in 1992. She went on to co-host a shopping show with the legendary Joan Rivers in 1995 and joined the cast of "MADtv" that same year. Some of her more notable creations from the show include the BAP Bunifa Latifah Halifah Sharifa Jackson, blaxploitation star Cocoa Latite, and spot-on celebrity impersonations of Oprah Winfrey and Whitney Houston. Wilson has done voice work for the animated series "Family Guy," "The Oblongs," "The Mr. Potato Head Show," and "American Dad!," as well as video game characterizations. Her movie roles have yet to match her success on the small screen, but she has appeared in a variety of independent films along with the box office hit spoof "Scary Movie 4" (as Oprah) and the 2010 adventure blockbuster "Avatar."