Keshia Knight Pulliam (born April 9, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for her childhood role as Rudy Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show and as reformed con artist Miranda Lucas-Payne on the TBS comedy-drama Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

Personal life

Keshia Knight Pulliam was born in Newark, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Denise and James Pulliam, Sr., a manager. She has three younger brothers.

Pulliam attended Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey. After The Cosby Show ended her family moved to Virginia, where Pulliam attended the Potomac School in McLean, Virginia and Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia. She received a bachelor of arts degree in Sociology from Spelman College in 2001.

Career

Pulliam became the youngest actress ever to be nominated for an Emmy at age six for best supporting actress. Even before that – at age three – she played "Keshia" on Sesame Street. She also played in the movie "Polly" with Phylicia Rashad. Her character on The Cosby Show, "Rudy", was known for being the "baby" of the family. She is ranked at 19 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars". In a 2008 interview, she revealed that when she read for the role of Rudy, when she was only five, she kept looking away from the director (Jay Sandrich), who finally asked her what she was looking at. She said when pointing to a monitor, "How can you make me on the TV?" Throughout the show's eight seasons, Pulliam had an on-and-off-screen chemistry with Bill Cosby, as the two shared their own friendship when not filming. For example, she related how "Mr. Cosby and I, we had a competition going on to see who would do a better job at lip-syncing. That was our little inside thing. I think I did a better job." She also appeared on a 1997 episode of Bill Cosby's follow-up sitcom Cosby, playing a guitar-player. She has remained friendly with Cosby.

Pulliam won a celebrity version of Fear Factor in September 2002. She also won a celebrity version of The Weakest Link, and participated in Celebrity Mole 2: Yucatan. In 2004, she performed in Chingy's music video for "One Call Away". In 2005, she played Darnelle in Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah.

Pulliam performed in Donald Gray's play The Man of Her Dreams in the fall of 2006 in St. Louis. In 2008, she joined the cast of Tyler Perry's House of Payne as Miranda, the new wife of Calvin Payne. The role earned her the 2009 and 2010 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

In 2009, she portrayed "Candy" in the film Madea Goes To Jail.

Pulliam appeared in Tank's 2010 music video for his cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me", playing his love interest.

In 2011, commenting on the fact that only white actors had won Golden Globe Awards that year, she said:

I think that there is definitely work to be done. It can always be more diverse. We live in a very multicultural and global society. More needs to be done to increase the representation of all people and really show the world for what it is. It's not just one color.

In 2013, she was a contestant on the ABC celebrity diving show Splash. She was first to be eliminated.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	'	Sophia
2004	Motives	Letrice	Video
2005	Beauty Shop	Darnelle
2005	'	Maya Walker
2008	Cuttin Da Mustard	Wendy
2008	Death Toll	Mirie
2009	Madea Goes to Jail	Candace Washington

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984"1992	'	Rudy Huxtable	Main role (177 episodes)
1985	Back to Next Saturday	Rudy Huxtable	TV film
1987	'	Molly	TV film
1987	'	Rudy Huxtable	Episodes: "Pilot", "Rudy and the Snow Queen"
1988	'	Rudy Huxtable	Episode: "My Dinner with Theo"
1989	Polly	Polly	TV film
1989	'	Karen	TV film
1990	Polly: Comin' Home!	Polly	TV film
1997	Cosby	Guitarist	Episode: "The Return of Charlites"
2002	What About Your Friends: Weekend Getaway	Temple	TV film
2004	Christmas at Water's Edge	Leila Turner	TV film
2007"2012	Tyler Perry's House of Payne	Miranda Lucas Payne	Main role (56 episodes)
2010	Psych	Stranjay	Episode: "The Polarizing Express"
2012	Mr. Box Office	Vanessa Owens	Episode: "Pilot"
2013	Guys with Kids	Bridget	Episode: "Divorce Party"
2013	'	Parker	TV film

Awards and nominations

• 1984: Emmy Awards Best Supporting Young Actress in the Comedy Series (nominated) The Cosby Show
• 2009: NAACP Image Awards Best supporting Actress in the Comedy Series (won) Tyler Perry's House of Payne
• 2010: NAACP Image Awards Best Supporting Actress in the Comedy Series (won) Tyler Perry's House of Payne
• 2011: NAACP Image Awards Best Supporting Actress in the Comedy Series (nominated) Tyler Perry's House of Payne
• 2012: NAACP Image Awards Best Supporting Actress in the Comedy Series (won) Tyler Perry's House of Payne

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