Erika Alexander Looks Back at Her Most Iconic Roles
Welcome to Look Back At It, a column where some of the most iconic Black actresses in Hollywood reminisce and reflect on the roles that made them stars. In this installment, Erika Alexander breaks down her career—from Living Single and Get Out to her most recent film, the Oscar-nominated American Fiction.
Many of Erika Alexander’s most iconic roles began with her receiving a phone call. “I’ve been grateful because a lot of people have asked for me in particular,” she says. “I always find that those are the best collaborations. I’ve auditioned, no doubt, but more often than not, people have sought me out.”
It’s easy to see why. Since the late ’80s, Alexander has made an indelible mark on the big and small screens. Take, for example, her starring role in the sitcom Living Single as Maxine Shaw (Attorney at Law). The show celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2023 and is still inspiring the masses, particularly Black women who were inspired to pursue careers in law because of her character. And then there’s her memorable role as Detective Latoya in Jordan Peele’s 2017 Oscar-winning film Get Out. Though she only has one scene, it was so great that it has now amassed over 1 million views on YouTube.
For this column, as we made our way through one iconic role after another, Alexander beamed with pride at the career she’s had thus far. “I think it’s a fantastic idea to go through all of these [projects]. I feel happy. I’ve realized that there were a whole lot more roles that were really meant for me than not. Often we audition and those are the ones that get away. But when somebody invites you and asks you to play, it’s a whole other feeling around it. So I’m grateful for all of those. I also feel like I’m a good luck charm because most of these things ended up being huge. So if you want to win, call Erika.”
Pam in The Cosby Show (1990-1992)
“I had been acting for 10 years before this, so when The Cosby Show found me, I was very much seen as a dramatic actress. This was my first real foray into comedy. I’m told that Camille Cosby saw me off-Broadway in ‘The Forbidden City’ and said that Mr. Cosby should go and see this girl in it. And I was the girl she was talking about. Not too long after that, I got a call saying, ‘Could you be at Mr. Cosby’s house in an hour?’ I showed up from Brooklyn and the casting director was there and he explained to me that he was creating a new character and her name would be Cousin Pam. He made up the role right in front of me. That’s how I got it.
“It was an amazing opportunity because I think I would’ve stayed on the dramatic course if not for that detour. It was partly because I didn’t understand the construct of having an audience and camera at the same time. I didn’t know who to play to. Turns out it’s both; it’s a dance. So by the time I got to Living Single, I was confident.”
Maxine in Living Single (1993-1998)
“So I had a series before Living Single called Going to Extremes. Again, back to drama. That ended after one season and I went to Los Angeles for pilot season and auditioned for several shows. One of them was Living Single and the other was something called M.A.N.T.I.S. I wanted to do the other one because it was science fiction and I wanted to be the Black Lois Lane. But I didn’t get it and ended up getting Living Single, which turned out to be the first primetime show created by an African American woman [Yvette Lee Bowser]. It was number one when it debuted in Black and Latino households, and it stayed that way for its entire run.
“And now there’s something called the Maxine Shaw Effect. There are all these Black women—like Stacey Abrams, Ayanna Pressley, and Marilyn Mosby—who said that they went into their leadership, political, or executive positions because of the influence and inspiration of Maxine Shaw. So a lot of props go to Yvette who wrote the role. And just as Living Single was influential, were were very much influenced by those who came before. My character was preceded by the great Phylicia Rashad, and you can see the influence of Whoopi Goldberg, too, in my braids. You can also see A Different World. All of those things were necessary so that we could be.”
Shanti in Déjà Vu (2006)
“This was such a masculine set. I was working with Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, and Adam Goldberg. I was playing an MIT scientist and we were sending the great Denzel into the future. I don’t think people understood exactly what the premise was. But Tony Scott [the director] was so loving and beautiful. After I showed up at Universal to read for my role, I came home to a huge bouquet of flowers at my door saying, ‘Thank you.’ He also did storyboards on the actual sides that you get each morning. He would basically show you the shot. And I used to go up to him and say, ‘I love these. This tells the story of not only the dialogue, but how you see the story, how you envision it.’ And at the end, he gave me a blown-up script with all the storyboards in a leather bound two-part clipboard, and it said ‘To Shanti.’ He passed away [in 2012] and I regard that as one of the most valuable things that I own.”
LeeAnne in Queen Sugar (2016)
“I auditioned for the great Ava DuVernay and when I came in, she asked everyone to leave the room. She said, ‘What have you been doing? Where have you been? How come I haven’t seen you?’ I said, ‘Well, obviously, acting. But I’ve also been doing more of the producing and writing.’ After Living Single, television famously took a turn to not show and create more shows with Black casts, and that also meant in the dramatic space as well. So to sustain and thrive and stay relevant, I started to teach myself and expand my skillset. And that was writing comic books, directing, producing… all of that. And I love that she wanted to know where I’d been. She was excited to see me, but more importantly, she wanted to know how I was and what I was doing. So she auditioned me for two of the lead roles and she said, ‘Well, you’re too old for one and too young for the other.’ And that was the end of that. But then she surprised me and created the arc of the character I came to play. So hats off to great Ava.”
Detective Latoya in Get Out (2017)
“I played my last scene of Queen Sugar in New Orleans and the next morning I got on a plane to Alabama to film Get Out. Jordan Peele actually wrote me a letter asking me to be Detective Latoya. I thought that this was a straight comedy because the only part of the script I got was my part. When we met, he said, ‘Erika, you can do whatever you want. We’re just going to go in and have a good time and get it done.’ Now, this was a small, inexpensive film. So he was shooting very quickly. I got in the hair and makeup trailer and the hair team pulled out of a box of very dusty wigs and started shaking them. I thought, ‘I’m not wearing that.’ But I was just too tired to even think about it, so I let them put the first one on. It was a short, blonde cut and I said, ‘There she is.’
“I had more scenes with Lil Rel [Howery] than the one you saw; it was cut down, but I had a really fun time working with him while he held that dog. Then I left on a plane and went straight off to Harlem to campaign for Hillary Clinton. Later, around the time that the movie posters started coming out all around Los Angeles, I went to the premiere and saw that it was a straight horror film. So I’m grateful for recognizing that it was a great scene and great material and a great director. I was as surprised as everyone about how this psychological genre mashup came together.”
Yolanda in Insecure (2018)
“I got a call from a friend of Issa Rae’s and she said, ‘I have a friend and she’s just starting a new show. Have you ever seen something online called Awkward Black Girl? Will you do her YouTube show?’ And I said, ‘I’d like to first see the material, but tell her yes. I’ll do it.’ And then I didn’t hear anything. Later, I was walking around downtown L.A. and saw Issa. I said, ‘What happened? I was supposed to do your show.’ And she goes, ‘Well, I just sold it to HBO.’ That was a great reason for us not to have gone and done it, and I was rooting for her. Then later on when she was looking for guest stars, she remembered me. That was amazing. Go ’head, Issa.”
Perenna in Black Lightning (2018-2019)
“So, I get a call and they say that Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil are doing this show called Black Lightning, and they have this role that they think I’d do a great job at. I really liked the show and I knew the lead from Living Single because he played [Queen] Latifah’s boyfriend for many years. So I went down and did it. I was initially only supposed to do two or three episodes and I ended up doing 11 of them. It was a really fun set to be on and it had a lot of good energy. It was a superhero show. It was similar to what I wanted to do on M.A.N.T.I.S. So it comes back around in different ways. I got to play a woman of wisdom and a woman who knew Black history, but also knew how it connected to a spirituality. That was powerful.”
Linda in Wu-Tang: An American Saga (2019-2023)
“I get a call and they say they’re interested in me. I said, ‘Well, I don’t know if I really have time’ because I was doing a lot of work as an activist as well as directing and producing. And they kept asking. So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll come in.’ This was one that I had to read for. I came and I met [the show’s creator] Alex Tse and RZA and they said they’d love to have me play Linda who’s the mother of RZA in the show. In the first season, she was the anchor and I was very gratified to play her. In the show, there were four children, but in real life, Linda had 11 children and they all had to approve me to play their mother, who they adored and who had passed early in life. So I not only got the Wu-Tang stamp of approval, but also theirs as well.”
Barb in Run the World (2021-2023)
“I get a call from Yvette Lee Bowser who was co-creator of the show. She said, ‘Erika, this is going to be in Harlem and it’s going to be about modern women who are going through life and their careers. Will you play the boss? I can’t think of anybody better to help pass the baton.’ And that’s when Barb was born.”
Miss Carmen in Earth Mama (2023)
“I get a call from Savanah Leaf [the writer/director] and she says, ‘I would love for you to play this role. I think you’re going to bring depth and a realness to it.’ And then she laid out her entire vision for it, and even showed me the short documentary that she based it on. My mother happens to be a social worker and so does my sister. My father was a preacher. I knew how to be of service and lend myself over. I knew the lead role was going to be Tia Nomore and that she was going to be a newcomer. I had been discovered in an independent film from an open call at the beginning of my career just like she had. So I felt like it was me now being able to watch over her in a similar way. And I was very glad to do it.”
Coraline in American Fiction (2023)
“I get a call and they say this young, new director and very accomplished writer from Watchmen would like to talk to you. And Cord Jefferson pops up on Zoom and he sits in his suite at the base of the bed and tells me his entire vision for this new film and that he wanted me to play Coraline next to the great Jeffrey Wright. Now, at the beginning, this was not called American Fiction. It was called Fuck. And since I was going to be playing Jeffrey’s girlfriend, I thought we were going to have all sorts of fabulous and different types of [intimate] situations. Then I read the script and realized it was different. And then the whole cast list was announced and my mouth dropped. Many of them were people I admired and we had never worked together.
“Coraline is the quiet storm. I was glad he saw me in it because I got to play notes that I hadn’t played for years. I got to be in a mature relationship, I got to be the ingenue and love interest, and I was delighted. And [I received] an Independent Spirit Award nomination. I have not had many nominations in my life, so this is very gratifying.”
Juliana Ukiomogbe is the Assistant Editor at ELLE. Her work has previously appeared in Interview, i-D, Teen Vogue, Nylon, and more.