Jazzmine Raycole Dillingham (born February 11, 1988) is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Claire Kyle on the

sitcom A sitcom, a 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 troupe may use ...

My Wife and Kids ''My Wife and Kids'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001, to May 17, 2005. The series was produced by Touchstone Television. It starred Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle, the patriarch of an African-American family. Wayans and ve ...

'' during its first season.

Early life and education

Raycole was born as Jazzmine Raycole Dillingham in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. The city is named after R ...

, the daughter of Ray, a water company superintendent, and Claudia Dillingham, who owned a dance studio and managed Raycole's career during her childhood. A trained dancer, Raycole first danced when she was a toddler. Raycole studied dance under both her mother and Barbara Faulkner, and was a competitive dancer by the age of four. She was part of the

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. ...

in 2001, and also taught dance classes that year. Raycole was

home schooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onl ...

by her mother.

Career

Raycole's acting career began in 1995, when she appeared in two films: voicing a puppy in ''

Babe Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Maj ...

'' and as Onika Harris in '' Waiting to Exhale''. One of her earliest roles on television was a guest spot on sitcom ''

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: *Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress * Elle ...

''. She also once featured as the voice of a one-time appearing character named Chloe on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

's ''

Hey Arnold! ''Hey Arnold!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Craig Bartlett. It originally aired on Nickelodeon from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandpar ...

'' in 2003. In 2001, Raycole appeared in the first dozen episodes of ''My Wife and Kids'' as Claire Kyle, with

Damon Wayans Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year long stint on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live.' ...

portraying her father. However, she was subsequently replaced on the show by

Jennifer Freeman Jennifer Nicole Freeman, often credited as Jennifer N. Freeman, is an American actress and spokesmodel. She is best known for playing the role of Claire Kyle in the sitcom ''My Wife and Kids'' (introduced in season 2) and her film roles in ''You ...

when the second season began. It is reported that Raycole herself said "I was 12 years old when I got that job. The producers wanted a different thing, they wanted someone a little bit older. I wasn't ready for that," she said. "I ended up going to New York to dance, which was my first passion. I really thank God for that because I got to grow and travel." She has made several guest appearances on television series, including '' Malcolm & Eddie'', ''

The Jamie Foxx Show ''The Jamie Foxx Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on The WB from August 28, 1996, to January 14, 2001. The series stars Jamie Foxx, Garcelle Beauvais, Christopher B. Duncan, Ellia English, and Garrett Morris. Although the show was not ...

'', ''

Smart Guy ''Smart Guy'' is an American sitcom television series centering on the exploits of child prodigy T.J. Henderson (Tahj Mowry), who moves from being an elementary school student in the fourth grade to a high school student in the tenth grade, atte ...

'', ''

Everybody Hates Chris ''Everybody Hates Chris'' is an American television semi-autobiographical sitcom that is inspired by the memories of the teenage years of comedian Chris Rock. The show is set from 1982 to 1987, although Rock himself was actually a teenager from ...

'', ''

Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

'' and ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Blo ...

''. Between 2007 and 2008, she portrayed Allison Hawkins in the post-apocalyptic drama ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho ...

''. She replaced Geffri Maya Hightower, who played the role in the show's pilot episode. Raycole appeared regularly as Lyric Ballentine on the

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

sitcom ''

The Soul Man ''The Soul Man'' is an American sitcom created by Suzanne Martin and Cedric the Entertainer. The series is a spin-off from ''Hot in Cleveland'', in which Cedric guest starred in the 2011 episode "Bridezelka", the backdoor pilot for ''The Soul Ma ...

'' (2012−14). From 2017 to 2018, Raycole starred as college student Sydney Fletcher on the

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

series '' The Quad''. She also played the daughter of Stanley Hudson on the TV show ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original ser ...

''. Raycole appeared as Mae, the girlfriend of

Kimiko Glenn Kimiko Elizabeth Glenn (June 27, 1989) is an American actress and Broadway performer known for portraying Brook Soso in the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', for which she received three ensemble Screen Actors Guild Awards. She also st ...

's character, in the television film '' Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas'' (2019). She portrayed Sage, a pregnant woman who has Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, in short-lived series '' Council of Dads''. In 2020, Raycole was set to play in the lead role of Izzy, Mickey's client in the drama series ''

The Lincoln Lawyer ''The Lincoln Lawyer'' is a 2005 novel, the 16th by American crime writer Michael Connelly. It introduces Los Angeles attorney Mickey Haller, half-brother of Connelly's mainstay character Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It was adapted as ...

'', which was based on novel and was written by

David E. Kelley David Edward Kelley (born April 4, 1956) is an American television writer, producer, and former attorney, known as the creator of '' Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Picket Fences'', ''Chicago Hope'', ''The Practice'', '' Ally McBeal'', ''Boston Publi ...

, however the pilot was passed by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

due to the scheduling conflict, but on February 2, 2021, Raycole returned in the lead role of Izzy in ''The Lincoln Lawyer'' with

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Manuel García-Rulfo Lapuente (born February 25, 1981) known professionally as Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, is a Mexican actor and model. He is best known for roles in films such as ''Cake'' and ''Bless Me, Ultima'', as well as the television program '' ...

replacing

Logan Marshall-Green Logan Marshall-Green (born November 1, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in the television series '' 24'', ''The O.C.'', '' Traveler'', '' Dark Blue'' and ''Quarry'', as well as his roles in the films ''Devil'', ...

Mickey Haller J. Michael "Mickey" Haller, Junior is a fictional character created by Michael Connelly in the 2005 novel ''The Lincoln Lawyer''. Haller, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney, is the paternal half-brother of Connelly's best-known character, LAP ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Jazz Raycole's biography
at

WCHS-TV WCHS-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston– Huntington market as an affiliate of ABC and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain se ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raycole, Jazz 1988 births Actresses from California Living people People from Stockton, California African-American female dancers Dancers from California American television actresses African-American actresses American film actresses African-American child actresses American child actresses 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women