Cassi Davis-Patton (born July 11, 1964) is an American actress best known for her role as Ella Payne on ''

Tyler Perry's House of Payne ''Tyler Perry's House of Payne'', also known as simply ''House of Payne'', is an American sitcom television series created and produced by Tyler Perry that premiered in syndication on June 21, 2006. The series revolves around a multi-generation ...

'' and its spin-off series '' The Paynes''. She is also known as Aunt Bam in the ''

Madea Mabel "Madea" Earlene Simmons is a character created and portrayed by Tyler Perry. She is portrayed as a tough, street-smart elderly African-American woman. Madea is based on Perry's mother and his aunt. In Perry's own words, Madea is "exactly ...

'' franchise since 2010. She has starred in several other productions under the direction of Tyler Perry.

Life and career

Born in

Holly Springs, Mississippi Holly Springs is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Mississippi, Marshall County, Mississippi, United States, near the border with Tennessee to the north. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 6,96 ...

, Davis attended

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and majored in music. She left the college one credit short of graduation, because she was not allowed to perform religious music during her senior recital. Davis returned to Spelman in 2008 to complete her degree, graduating in November of that year. She has credited her devout,

born-again Christian To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

faith as the main reason behind her professional success. Davis' acting career began in 1988 with a supporting role in the

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

comedy film ''

School Daze ''School Daze'' is a 1988 American musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Lee along with Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. Released on February 12, 19 ...

''. Her early television credits include appearances on ''

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 ...

'', '' Married... with Children'', ''

Kenan & Kel ''Kenan & Kel'' is an American sitcom created by Kim Bass that originally aired on Nickelodeon from August 17, 1996, to May 3, 2000. Set in Chicago, the series follows mischievous Kenan Rockmore (Kenan Thompson) and his happy-go-lucky best frien ...

'', and '' The PJ's''. She established her acting career by appearing in Tyler Perry productions such as ''

Madea's Family Reunion ''Madea's Family Reunion'' is a 2006 American comedy-drama film and an adaptation of the Madea's Family Reunion (play), stage production of the same name written by Tyler Perry. The film is a sequel to ''Diary of a Mad Black Woman''. It was writt ...

'', ''

Madea Goes to Jail ''Madea Goes to Jail'' is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry, which was based on his 2006 play, and starring Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Ion Overman, RonReaco Lee, Sofía Vergara, Vanessa Ferl ...

'', ''

Daddy's Little Girls ''Daddy's Little Girls'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry, produced by Perry and Reuben Cannon, and starring Gabrielle Union, Idris Elba, Louis Gossett Jr., and Tracee Ellis Ross. It tells the sto ...

'', '' Madea's Big Happy Family'', ''

Boo! A Madea Halloween ''Boo! A Madea Halloween'' is a 2016 American comedy horror film directed, written, starring and co-produced by Tyler Perry. The idea for the film originated from a fictitious Madea Halloween movie that was mentioned in Chris Rock's 2014 film '' T ...

'' and '' A Madea Family Funeral''. Davis is best known for her role as Ella Payne in the TBS sitcom ''

'' from 2007 to 2012. She received two NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance. In 2018, she starred in ''House of Payne'' spinoff '' The Paynes'' that aired on

Oprah Winfrey Network The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN, also known as the OWN Network) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel, which one month later merged with ...

. In 2020, a revival series of ''House of Payne'' was ordered on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

Personal life

Davis married her longtime boyfriend Kerry Patton on January 11, 2017; prior to their marriage, the two had been dating since 2007. In an interview, Cassi denied having a stroke, but revealed instead that she was diagnosed with

Bell's palsy Bell's palsy is a type of facial paralysis that results in a temporary inability to control the facial muscles on the affected side of the face. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks. Symptoms can vary f ...

in March 2020.

Filmography

Films and plays

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Cassi 1964 births African-American Christians Actresses from Mississippi American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Living people Spelman College alumni People from Holly Springs, Mississippi 20th-century African-American actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses American voice actresses