Erika Alexander (Actor)

Erika Alexander at the 2002 Winter TCA in Los Angeles. (Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

With her almond-shaped eyes and earthy intensity, Alexander possesses a disarmingly composed manner that often makes the characters she play appear more secure than they really are. Before nabbing the role of the calculating Maxine Shaw on the Fox sitcom "Living Single" (1993-97), Alexander made her TV series debut as Clair Huxtable's (Phylicia Rashad) 17-year-old less-privileged second cousin Pam on the last two seasons of "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1990-1992). When that show's run ended, she showed up the following season as the proud but insecure medical student Cheryl Carter on the short-lived series "Going To Extremes" (ABC). But before TV discovered Alexander, she was already something of a seasoned show business trouper. In the second week of her freshman year at New York University, she dropped out to accept a role in Peter Brook's acclaimed "The Mahabaharta" (1987) in which she toured internationally for a year. Alexander then recreated her part for the film version shot in Paris.

Upon her return to New York she garnered a featured role in Joseph Papp's Public Theater production of Bill Gunn's "The Forbidden City" (1989). Other noteworthy performances followed in the CBS miniseries "Common Ground" (1990), the ABC Afterschool Special "Roy's Baby" and the ABC movie "The Last Best Year of My Life" (1990) opposite Mary Tyler Moore.

After producing and directing a successful acting showcase in New York in 1992, Alexander launched her own production company.