What Is Erika Alexander's Net Worth?
Erika Alexander is an American actress, producer, and writer who has a net worth of $3 million. Erika Alexander is best known for playing Pam Tucker on NBC's "The Cosby Show" (1990–1992) and Maxine Shaw on Fox's "Living Single" (1993–1998). Erika has more than 60 acting credits to her name, including the films "54" (1998), "30 Years to Life" (2001), "Love Liza" (2002), "Get Out" (2017), and "I See You" (2019) and the television series "Going to Extremes" (1992–1993), "Judging Amy" (2001), "Street Time" (2002–2003), "In Plain Sight" (2010), "Last Man Standing" (2012–2015), "Low Winter Sun" (2013), "Bosch" (2016–2017), "Beyond" (2017–2018), "Insecure" (2018), "Black Lightning" (2018–2019), "Wu-Tang: An American Saga" (2019–present), "Run The World" (2021–present), "Swimming with Sharks" (2022), and "Shining Girls" (2022). Alexander produced the 2020 documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble," and she began hosting and producing the true crime podcast "Finding Tamika" in 2022. Erika also co-wrote the 2012 science-fiction graphic novel "Concrete Park" and the 2018 "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comic miniseries "Giles."
Early Life
Erika Alexander was born Erika Rose Alexander on November 19, 1969, in Winslow, Arizona. Erika grew up in Flagstaff with mother Sammie (a children's book author), father Robert, and five siblings. When Alexander was 11 years old, her family moved to Pennsylvania, where Erika attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls.
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Career
After high school, Alexander studied acting at the New Freedom Theatre and landed her first film role before the six-week class ended. She made her movie debut in 1986's "My Little Girl" alongside Mary Stuart Masterson, James Earl Jones, and fellow newcomer Jennifer Lopez, and that year she also appeared in the TV movie "George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation" and the "Teen Father" episode of "ABC Afterschool Special." Erika played Madri/Hidimbaa in the 1989 miniseries "The Mahabharata," and in 1990, she co-starred with Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg in the film "The Long Walk Home" and with Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters in the TV movie "The Last Best Year." Also in 1990, Alexander guest-starred on "Law & Order," and after co-starring with Gloria Foster, a friend of Camille Cosby, in the play "The Forbidden City," Erika was cast as Pam Tucker on the NBC series "The Cosby Show." Alexander appeared in 22 episodes of the show, including the series finale. From 1992 to 1993, she starred as Cheryl Carter on the ABC drama "Going to Extremes."
In 1993, she began playing Maxine "Max" Felice Shaw on the Fox sitcom "Living Single" alongside Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Kim Fields, T.C. Carson, and John Henton. "Living Single" aired 118 episodes over five seasons and earned Erika two NAACP Image Awards.
In the '90s, Alexander also appeared in the films "He Said, She Said" (1991) and "Fathers & Sons" (1992), the TV movies "Override" (1994) and "KnitWits Revisited" (1999), and the Toni Braxton music video "You're Makin' Me High" (2006). In 1998, she co-starred with Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, and Mike Myers in the drama "54" and with Cicely Tyson, Blair Underwood, Queen Latifah, and Mario Van Peebles in the miniseries "Mama Flora's Family." Erika appeared in the films "30 Years to Life" (2001), "Love Liza" (2002), "Full Frontal" (2002), "Tricks" (2004), "Déjà Vu" (2006), and "La Mission" (2009), and she had a recurring role as Fran Winston on the CBS legal drama "Judging Amy" in 2001. From 2002 to 2003, Alexander played Dee Mulhern on the Showtime drama "Street Time," then she guest-starred on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2004), "LAX" (2004), "Half & Half" (2005), "7th Heaven" (2005), "In Justice" (2006), "ER" (2006), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2007), "Numb3rs" (2007), "CSI: Miami" (2007), and "Criminal Minds" (2009).
Erika has had recurring roles as Saundra Johnson on NBC's "Heist" (2006), Theresa Simmons on the USA Network's "In Plain Sight" (2010), Carol Larabee on ABC's "Last Man Standing" (2012–2015), Louise "LC" Cullen on AMC's "Low Winter Sun" (2013), Blanche on BET's "Let's Stay Together" (2014), Connie Irving on Amazon Prime Video's "Bosch" (2016–2017), Tess Shoemaker on Freeform's "Beyond" (2017–2018), Yolanda on HBO's "Insecure" (2018), Perenna on The CW's "Black Lightning" (2018–2019), Barb on Starz's "Run The World" (2021–present), and Abby on Apple TV+'s "Shining Girls" (2022). Alexander appeared in the films "Elsa & Fred" (2014), "Secrets of the Magic City" (2014), "Brave New Jersey" (2016), "I See You" (2019), and "American Refugee" (2021), and in 2017, she played Detective Latoya in Jordan Peele's hit psychological horror film "Get Out," which grossed $255.4 million against a $4.5 million budget and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. In 2019, she began portraying Linda Diggs on Hulu's "Wu-Tang: An American Saga," and in 2022, she played Meredith on The Roku Channel's "Swimming with Sharks."
Personal Life
Erika married Tony Puryear on September 17, 1997. In 2017 they divorced after 20 years of marriage. Puryear is an artist and screenwriter known for the 1996 film "Eraser," and he co-wrote the graphic novel "Concrete Park" with Alexander.
In 2008, Erika campaigned for Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Party primary and toured college campuses with Hillary's daughter, Chelsea. Alexander and Ben Arnon co-founded Color Farm Media, a company whose mission is "to build an ecosystem that fosters greater equity, inclusion, and diversity in media and that empowers and elevates voices who are underrepresented, overlooked, and undervalued." In 2020, the company released the documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble," which won a Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Historical/Biographical Documentary and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary (Film).
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Awards and Nominations
Alexander has earned five NAACP Image Award nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for "Living Single" in 1996 and 1998. She was also nominated in that category in 1997, and she received nominations for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy or Drama Series for "Black Lightning" in 2019 and Outstanding Guest Performance for "Run the World" in 2022. Erika won a Black Reel Award for Theatrical – Best Independent Actress for "30 Years to Life" in 2003, and she has earned two Black Reel Awards for Television nominations, taking home the prize for Outstanding Guest Actress, Comedy Series for "Run the World" in 2021. Her other nomination was for Outstanding Guest Actress, Drama Series for "Black Lightning" in 2019. In 2017, Alexander shared a Best Ensemble Acting award with her "Brave New Jersey" co-stars at the Phoenix Film Festival, and Erika and her "Get Out" co-stars received a BAM Award nomination for Best Cast. In 2021, Alexander and Ben Arnon earned a News & Documentary Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Historical Documentary for "John Lewis: Good Trouble."
