Keshia Knight Pulliam (Actor)

Keshia Knight Pulliam in Beauty Shop. (Photo: MGM)

About Keshia Knight Pulliam

A native of New Jersey, actress Keshia Knight Pulliam first rocketed into the national spotlight -- and won the hearts of many a devoted '80s television viewer -- as Rudy Huxtable, the spunky, pint-sized youngest daughter of Dr. Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby), on The Cosby Show. Initially brought in at the age of five (in 1984), Knight Pulliam imparted the series with a "cuteness" factor that laudably waned somewhat as the program wore on and the actress herself aged (though producers eventually brought in Raven-Symone to fill the gap). By the fall of 1992, in fact -- when Cosby wrapped -- Knight Pulliam had reached her teens. Over the course of the series run, she received an Emmy nod for Best Supporing Actress at age six, and qualified at the time as the youngest actress to be nominated for an Emmy in history.

During Cosby, Knight Pulliam also essayed occasional feature roles; among other accomplishments, she headlined at several telemovies, including the period holiday drama The Little Match Girl (1987), the Mark Twain update A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1989), and Debbie Allen's musical version of Pollyanna, Polly (1989), as well as its sequel, Polly: Comin' Home! (1990). After The Cosby Show wrapped, Knight Pulliam attended Spelman College in Atlanta, then achieved a second wind in her career as a reality television star, on programs including a celebrity installment of Fear Factor, Celebrity Mole: Yucatan, and a TV child stars episode of The Weakest Link. She also signed for a starring role in Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009), as Candy, a locked-up prostitute befriended by the sardonic, hell-raising Madea. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Notes

"I truly love and enjoy this business and believed that I would be able to return. But if not, it wasn't in God's plan."---Pulliam on leaving acting to focus on school, quoted in Venice magazine, April, 2005.

Pulliam credits much of her young success to her parents, who manage her career: "If you're young, you should always do what you're told." This doesn't mean, however, that she doesn't have ambitions for herself: "I want to be a pilot....A pilot and a doctor....I think I'll be a doctor half of the time and a pilot a quarter of the time. And most of the time, I'll be an actress!" (Quoted in "TV Guide", December 19, 1987)

Pulliam received an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for "The Cosby Show" for the 1985/86 season. She has also been nominated as Best Young Actress in the Nickelodeon Awards.

Pulliam's other television credits include "Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa", "Motown Returns to the Apollo" (both 1985), "Polly", "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (both 1989) and "Polly Comin' Home" (1990).