Arnetia Walker is an American actress and singer, active since 1971. She played Nurse Annie Roland in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

sitcom ''

Nurses Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

'' from 1991 to 1994.

Life and career

Walker was born in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, Walker was very young when her mother died, and she never knew her father. She later moved to New York City and attended New York's

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was ...

. Later, she was cast in her Broadway debut, ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an American playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin ...

. She would later be

Stephanie Mills Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to stardom as Dorothy Gale in the original seven-time Tony Awards, Tony Award winning Broadway theatre, Broadway run of the musical ''The Wiz'' ...

's standby as Dorothy in the original Broadway run of ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

''. In 1983, she starred in the first national touring company of ''

Dreamgirls ''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. It is based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, and p ...

'' in the role of Lorrell Robinson. Walker would go on to perform in the show's second national and international touring companies and the 1987 Broadway revivial. She achieved the distinction of being the only woman to have played all three of that show's principal characters. In 1982, Walker made her big screen debut appearing in the comedy film ''

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grang ...

''. She later appeared in films '' The Wizard of Speed and Time'' (1988), ''

Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills ''Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills'' is a 1989 American black comedy film co-written and directed by Paul Bartel. The film re-unites Bartel with his '' Eating Raoul'' co-stars Mary Woronov and Robert Beltran. It also stars Jacqu ...

'' (1989), and '' Love Crimes'' (1992). Her television films credits include '' Cast a Deadly Spell'' (1991), ''

The Cherokee Kid ''The Cherokee Kid'' is a 1996 American made for television western film directed by Paris Barclay for HBO. The film's stars were Sinbad, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds, Gregory Hines, A Martinez, Ernie Hudson, Dawnn Lewis and Vanessa Bell Callow ...

'' (1996) and ''

Geppetto Geppetto ( ; ) is a fictional character in the 1883 Italian novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator (and thus 'father') of Pinocchio. He wears a yellow wig resemblin ...

'' (2000). In 1991, Walker was cast as one of leads alongside Stephanie Hodge,

Mary Jo Keenen Mary Jo Keenen is an American former television actress. Career She had regular roles as Nurse Julie Milbury on the sitcom ''Nurses'', Gloria Elgis on the sitcom ''City'' and Stephanie James on '' My Wildest Dreams''. She appeared as Deena in ...

and Ada Maris in the NBC sitcom ''

'', a spin-off of ''

Empty Nest ''Empty Nest'' is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from October 8, 1988, to June 17, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred Richa ...

''. The series ran three season and 68 episodes. Walker also was a regular cast member in the short-lived sitcoms ''

Singer & Sons ''Singer & Sons'' is an American sitcom starring Harold Gould and Esther Rolle that was originally broadcast on NBC as a summer replacement series from June 9 to June 27, 1990. Synopsis Nathan Singer is a Jewish widower who becomes the third gen ...

'' (1990) and '' The Big House'' (2004). She guest starred in a number of shows, including ''

Quantum Leap Quantum leap or ''variation'', may refer to: In general * Quantum leap (physics), also known as quantum jump, a transition between quantum states ** Atomic electron transition, a key example of the physics phenomenon * Paradigm shift, a sudden ch ...

'', ''

Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Denise Lee that aired for five seasons on the Fox network, from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centers on the lives of six New York City friends who share perso ...

'', ''

Midnight Caller ''Midnight Caller'' is an American drama television series created by Richard DiLello, which aired on NBC from October 25, 1988, to May 10, 1991. It was one of the first television series to address the dramatic possibilities of the then-growi ...

'', ''

Everybody Loves Raymond ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' is an American television sitcom created by Philip Rosenthal that aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005, with a total of 210 episodes spanning nine seasons. It was produced by Where's Lunch and Wor ...

'', '' City of Angels'', ''

Touched by an Angel ''Touched by an Angel'' is an American drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced by Ma ...

'', ''

Amen Amen (, ; , ; , ; , ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic practices as a concluding word, or as a respons ...

and ''

NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble ca ...

''. From 1999 to 2000, she had a recurring role in the WB comedy-drama series, '' Popular''. In 2008, she played the role of Grandma Clara in the comedy film ''

College Road Trip ''College Road Trip'' is a 2008 American family comedy film directed by Roger Kumble and starring Martin Lawrence, Kym Whitley, Raven-Symoné, Brenda Song, Margo Harshman, and Donny Osmond. The film centers on college-bound teen Melanie Por ...

''. In 2017, she was cast in a recurring role of Luella Culhane in the CW prime time soap opera, ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

''.

Personal life

She is married to television news anchor/reporter Elliott Francis, and they have one child, Trevor.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Arnetia African-American actresses American film actresses American television actresses Living people Actresses from Columbus, Georgia Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women