Daphne Etta Maxwell Reid (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Maxwell; July 13, 1948) is an American actress, comedian, designer and former model. She is best known for her role as the second

Vivian Banks ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

'' from 1993 to 1996.

Early life

Reid was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the daughter of Rosalee and Green Maxwell. She is a graduate of

The Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

. She received a degree in

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, which she attended on a scholarship and where she became the first African-American woman to be named

homecoming queen Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

. While at Northwestern she began a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

ing career, eventually signing with the

Eileen Ford Eileen ( or ) is an Irish feminine given name anglicised from Eibhlín and may refer to: People Artists * Eileen Agar (1899–1991), British Surrealist painter and photographer *Eileen Fisher (born 1950), clothing retailer and designer * Eilee ...

modeling agency A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency. The top agencies work with b ...

. She was the first black woman to be on the cover of '' Glamour'' magazine.

Career

She has appeared in numerous

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

s. Her best-known role was as the replacement actress for

on the

sitcom ''

'' from 1993 to 1996, following the departure of

Janet Hubert-Whitten Janet Louise Hubert (born January 13, 1956) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing the role of the original Vivian Banks on the sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from its first season in 1990 until the e ...

. She joined the show right after the fictional character Nicky Banks was born toward the end of Season 3, when Hubert-Whitten did not renew her contract. Before that role, she starred in several television series including, ''Simon & Simon, Frank’s Place, and Snoops.'' She had a recurring role as JT's mother, Frances Hunter, on the UPN sitcom '' Eve'', and then played Juanita Lawrence on the

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

sitcom '' Let's Stay Together''. Reid is also an accomplished photographer as well as a designer and clothing creator. During the 1980s and 1990s, Reid served on the advisory board of the

National Student Film Institute The National Student Film Institute (NSFI), formerly the Los Angeles Student Film Institute (LASFI), was founded in 1978 by Brenda Norman, Dave Master, Jutti Marsh and Ralph Rogers as a festival for films made by children from kindergarten through n ...

. She is a recipient of the Women of Vision Award from Women in Film & Video, among a myriad of other awards. In 2022, she guest stars in the ninth episode of '' Bel-Air'', the dramatic reimagining of ''Fresh Prince'', as Helen, an Art Council board member.

Personal life

In 1968, during her junior year at Northwestern, Maxwell married Robert Tubbs. They had one son, Chris, before divorcing in 1979. She married actor

Tim Reid Timothy Lee Reid (born December 19, 1944) is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–82), Marcel "Downtown" Brown ...

in 1982, and became stepmother to his two children. With Reid, she owned and operated New Millennium Studios in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, until 2014. She also served on the

board of visitors In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual ...

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of hi ...

, for eight years. She was appointed in July 2008. On July 31, 2010, she became an honorary member of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emph ...

sorority, during their 50th national convention in New Orleans.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Daphne 1948 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York City African-American actresses African-American female models African-American models American female models American film actresses American television actresses Delta Sigma Theta members Living people Northwestern University alumni The Bronx High School of Science alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people