Phylicia Rashad is an American actress best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show.
Phylicia was born in Houston, Texas and her mother, Vivian Ayers, was a Pulitzer-prize nominated artist, poet, playwright, scholar, and publisher while her father, Andrew Arthur Allen, was an orthodontist. Phylicia has 3 siblings, an older brother named Tex, a younger sister named Debbie, and a younger brother named Allen.
While Phylicia was growing up, her family moved to Mexico in an attempt to escape pervasive racism, which was prevalent in 1950s America and as a result, Phylicia speaks Spanish fluently.
Phylicia also studied at Howard University, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts.