Tempestt Bledsoe (born August 1, 1973) is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

. She is best known for her childhood role as

Vanessa Huxtable '' The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from 1984 until 1992. The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, Ne ...

, the fourth child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable on the long-running

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

sitcom ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

'' (1984–92). In December 2010, it was announced that Bledsoe would be the host of '' Clean House'' on the

Style Network Esquire Network was an American pay television network that was a 50/50 joint venture between NBCUniversal and the Hearst Corporation. The network carried programs aimed at a metrosexual audience centering on travel, cooking, sports and fashion ...

, replacing long-time host Niecy Nash. From September 2012 to February 2013, she was one of the stars of the

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

'' Guys with Kids'', portraying Marny.

Career

In 1984, Bledsoe was cast in the role of Vanessa Huxtable on the sitcom ''

''. She was a regular until its final season in 1992. She also made a one-time appearance as Vanessa on ''

A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom (and a spin-off of ''The Cosby Show'') television series that aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) and ...

''. In 1986, Tempestt played the role of Grace Wheeler in Season 15, Episode 4 (The Gift Of Amazing Grace), of the ABC Afterschool Special program. In 1989 she was a national spokesperson for DARE. In the mid-1990s, from 1995 to 1996, Bledsoe hosted a daytime talk show, '' The Tempestt Bledsoe Show'', produced by

Columbia TriStar Television Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company that was active from 1994 to 2002. It was operated as the third name of the early television studio Screen Gems and the fou ...

and

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...

. She made a brief appearance in the sitcom ''

The Parkers ''The Parkers'' is an American television sitcom aired on UPN from August 30, 1999, to May 10, 2004. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of UPN's ''Moesha'', ''The Parkers'' features the mother-daughter team of Nikki (played by Mo'Nique) and Kim Parker ...

'', and has been featured in the recurring role of a single mother on the ABC show ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy i ...

''. She also appeared in the

Lifetime Lifetime may refer to: * Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey * ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band * ...

show ''

Strong Medicine ''Strong Medicine'' is an American medical drama with a focus on feminism, feminist politics, health issues and class conflict that aired on the Lifetime Television, Lifetime network from 2000 to 2006. It was created and produced in part by Who ...

'', and ''

South of Nowhere ''South of Nowhere'' is an American teen drama television series created by Thomas W. Lynch. It first aired on November 4, 2005, on Noggin as part of its teen programming block, The N. The show was produced by Noggin LLC in association with th ...

''. Her most recent credits include the role of Nina in the

Oxygen Channel Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primari ...

's original television movie ''

Husband for Hire ''Husband for Hire'' is a 2008 comedy television film that premiered on Oxygen Network on January 24, 2008. ''Husband for Hire'' was written and directed by Kris Isacsson, and it starred Nadine Velazquez, Tempestt Bledsoe, Mark Consuelos, Erik Est ...

'',

Steven Bochco Steven Ronald Bochco Masterson (December 16, 1943 – April 1, 2018) was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, including ''Hill Street Blues'', '' L.A. Law'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Cop Rock ...

's ''

Raising the Bar Raising the Bar may refer to: Film and television * ''Raising the Bar'' (2008 TV series), an American legal drama television series * ''Raising the Bar'' (2013 TV series), an American reality web series about barmaking * ''Raising the Bar'' (20 ...

'', and the role of Abby in the second season of Disney Channel's animated series '' The Replacements''. She appeared on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's '' Celebrity Fit Club'' and NBC's ''

Fear Factor ''Fear Factor'' is an American stunt/ dare game show that first aired on NBC from 2001 to 2006 and was initially hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan. The show was adapted by Endemol USA from the original Dutch series titled ''Now ...

''. It was announced on December 1, 2010 that Bledsoe would return to TV, replacing Niecy Nash as the host of '' Clean House'' on Style Network. Her first episode aired on January 26, 2011. In 2012, Bledsoe was heard as the voice of Sheriff Hooper in the

Laika Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacec ...

animated film ''

ParaNorman ''ParaNorman'' is a 2012 American stop-motion animated comedy horror film directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (the latter's feature directorial debut), and written by Butler. Produced by Laika, the film stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, ...

''. From September 2012 to February 2013, she portrayed Marny in the

'' Guys with Kids''. In 2014, Bledsoe appeared in the '' Instant Mom'' episode "Not Your Mother's Day" in which she reprised her role as Vanessa Huxtable. In July 2019 Bledsoe appeared in the Netflix show Family Reunion episode #10 "Remember When Our Boys Became Men?".

Filmography

Personal life

Bledsoe earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in finance from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. Since 1993 she has been in a relationship with actor

Darryl M. Bell Darryl M. Bell (sometimes credited as Daryl Bell; born May 10, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role as Big Brother X-Ray Vision in the 1988 Spike Lee film ''School Daze'' and as Ron Johnson Jr. on the NBC sitcom ''A Different World'' ...

, who co-starred in the

TV comedy ''

'', a spinoff of ''The Cosby Show''. The couple appeared together in the

Fox Reality Channel Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox network (or produced by Fox). The channel also featu ...

series '' Househusbands of Hollywood'', which debuted August 2009. Bledsoe is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat ( red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetaria ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bledsoe, Tempestt 1973 births Actresses from Chicago African-American television personalities American television talk show hosts Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Participants in American reality television series African-American television talk show hosts African-American actresses American television actresses American film actresses American child actresses African-American child actresses New York University alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people People in vegetarianism