Khandi Alexander is an American veteran performer who began her career as a dancer in the mid-1980s. She sobbed while performing in the early 1990s and has since been in a number of films and television shows. The Emmy nominee has notable parts in TV shows such as NewsRadio (1995 — 1998), ER (1995-2001), CSI: Miami (2002 — 2009), and, maybe most notably, Treme (2010 — 2013).
Khandi Alexander was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the daughter of Alverina Yavonna (Masters), an opera and jazz singer, and Henry Roland Alexander, a construction firm owner. She appeared in Shonda Rhimes’s Scandal as Olivia Pope’s (Kerry Washinton) manipulative mother Maya. She was also reared in Queens, New York, and attended Queensborough Community College.
She also appeared on Broadway, where she starred in Chicago, Bob Fosse’s Dancin, and Dreamgirls. She also choreographed Whitney Houston’s business trip from 1988 until 1992. She also appeared as a dancer in Natalie Cole’s 1988 video for “Pink Cadillac.”
