Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman-Maday (née Pearman; born December 10, 1985), also known as simply Raven, is an American actress, singer, and director. She has received several accolades, including five NAACP Image Awards, two Kids' Choice Awards, three Young Artist Awards, and… Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman-Maday (née Pearman; born December 10, 1985), also known as simply Raven, is an American actress, singer, and director. She has received several accolades, including five NAACP Image Awards, two Kids' Choice Awards, three Young Artist Awards, and five Emmy Award nominations. In 2012, she was included on VH1's list of "100 Greatest Child Stars of All Time".
Raven-Symoné began her career as a child actress, rising to fame as Olivia Kendall on The Cosby Show (1989–1992) and Nicole Lee on Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1993–1997). When she was 15 years old, she landed the titular leading role of Raven Baxter on the Disney Channel television series That's So Raven (2003–2007), for which she earned numerous awards; she reprised her role on the spin-off series Raven's Home (2017–2023), which she also executive produced. Her film credits include Dr. Dolittle (1998), its sequel Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), The Princess Diaries 2 (2004), College Road Trip (2008), and Mighty Oak (2020) while her television film credits include Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (1999), its second sequel Zenon: Z3 (2004), The Cheetah Girls (2003), its sequel The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006), For One Night (2006), and Revenge of the Bridesmaids (2010). She also voiced Monique in the animated series Kim Possible (2002–2007), and Iridessa in the fantasy film franchise Tinker Bell. Raven-Symoné has also directed episodes for several series, including Raven's Home, Bunk'd, Sydney to the Max, Pretty Freekin Scary, and The Ms. Pat Show.
Raven-Symoné released her debut studio album at the age of seven, Here's to New Dreams (1993), which saw the moderate commercial success of the single "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of". She subsequently released the studio albums Undeniable (1999), This Is My Time (2004), and Raven-Symoné (2008). She also contributed vocals to several soundtracks from her Disney projects, including The Cheetah Girls (2003), That's So Raven (2004), That's So Raven Too! (2006), and The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006), several of which were certified platinum and gold. She made her Broadway debut in the musical Sister Act in 2012 and was a co-host of the ABC daytime talk show The View from 2015 to 2016, for which she earned two Emmy nominations. She hosted and executive produced the pilot of the 2021 reality show What Not to Design and hosted the 2024 revival of the game show Scrabble on The CW until she was replaced as host by Craig Ferguson in January 2026.
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