Tracee Ellis Ross facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tracee Ellis Ross
Ross in 2018
Born	Tracee Joy Silberstein (1972-10-29) October 29, 1972 (age 52) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Brown University (BA)
Occupation	Actress singer producer television host
Years active	1996–present
Parents	Robert Ellis Silberstein (father) Diana Ross (mother)
Relatives	Rhonda Ross Kendrick (half-sister) Evan Ross (half-brother) Barbara Ross-Lee (aunt)

Tracee Ellis Ross (born October 29, 1972) is a famous American actress. She is best known for her main roles in two popular TV shows. These are Girlfriends (from 2000 to 2008) and Black-ish (from 2014 to 2022). For her work on Black-ish, she was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards.

Tracee is the daughter of the famous singer Diana Ross and music manager Robert Ellis Silberstein. She started her acting career in independent films. She also hosted a pop-culture show called The Dish on Lifetime. In Girlfriends, she played Joan Clayton. This role earned her two NAACP Image Awards.

She also appeared in movies like Hanging Up (2000) and Daddy's Little Girls (2007). Later, she returned to TV in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines (2011). For this role, she won her third NAACP Image Award. From 2014 to 2022, Tracee starred as Dr. Rainbow Johnson in Black-ish. This role brought her six NAACP Image Awards. She also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2019, she helped create Mixed-ish, a show that tells the story before Black-ish. In 2020, she starred in the movie The High Note and sang on its soundtrack.

Tracee's Early Life and Family

Tracee Ellis Ross was born on October 29, 1972, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is the famous Motown singer and actress Diana Ross. Her father is music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein. Actor and musician Evan Ross is her half-brother. Her father is Jewish, and her mother is African-American and a Baptist.

Tracee chose the name Tracee Ellis Ross. She wanted to keep both her parents' names. She has two sisters, Rhonda Ross Kendrick and Chudney Lane Silberstein. In the 1980s, Tracee and her family were photographed by Andy Warhol. Her mother even used one of these photos for her 1982 album, Silk Electric.

When her mother married Arne Næss Jr. in 1985, Tracee gained three step-siblings. She is still close with all of them. Her mother and Arne Næss Jr. had two more sons, Ross Arne and Evan Ross, before they divorced in 2000.

Tracee went to schools in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Switzerland. As a teenager, she worked as a model. She studied theater at Brown University and graduated in 1994. After college, she worked in fashion. She was a model and a fashion editor for magazines like Mirabella and New York.

Tracee's Acting Career

Starting Out in TV and Movies

Tracee Ellis Ross first appeared in a movie in 1996. It was an independent film called Far Harbor. The next year, she became the host of The Dish. This Lifetime show talked about popular culture. In 1998, she starred in an NBC TV movie called Race Against Fear: A Moment of Truth. She played a former track star.

Her next movie was Sue. In 2000, she got her first big studio role in Diane Keaton's movie Hanging Up. That same year, she joined the MTV series The Lyricist Lounge Show. This show mixed hip-hop music, sketches, and comedy. In 2006, she was in Kanye West’s music video for "Touch The Sky." She played Kanye's ex-girlfriend's best friend.

Becoming Famous with Girlfriends

Ross with Mara Brock Akil and Girlfriends cast in 2013

Tracee's biggest success came when she got the main role in Girlfriends. This popular show was on UPN and later The CW. She played Joan Carol Clayton, a successful lawyer looking for love and adventure. The show was about four (later three) young African-American women and their male best friend.

In 2007, Tracee won an NAACP Image Award for her role in Girlfriends. She won another Image Award for the same role in 2009. In 2007, Tracee also starred with her brother Evan Ross and Queen Latifah in the HBO movie Life Support. That same year, she was in the Tyler Perry movie Daddy's Little Girls. She also appeared in the 2009 film Labor Pains.

In 2010, she was in an episode of Private Practice. In 2011, Tracee appeared in four episodes of CSI. She played the ex-wife of Laurence Fishburne's character.

Tracee starred in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines with Malcolm-Jamal Warner. It started in October 2011 on BET. She won her third NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012 for this show. In 2011, she also appeared in the Lifetime film Five. This role earned her nominations for an NAACP Image Award and Black Reel Awards. In 2012, Tracee starred in the NBC pilot Bad Girls.

Black-ish and More Success

Ross at the 2014 NAACP Image Awards

In 2014, Tracee was cast in the ABC comedy series Black-ish. She played the main female role of Dr. Rainbow Johnson, alongside Anthony Anderson. The show received very good reviews. For her work on Black-ish, Tracee won three NAACP Image Awards. She was also nominated for two Critics' Choice Television Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2016, Tracee was the first African-American woman in 30 years to be nominated for an Emmy in her category. That same year, she competed against Anthony Anderson on Spike's Lip Sync Battle. She won with her performances of Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" and Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield".

In 2015, Brown University gave Tracee an honorary degree. Tracee hosted the BET Awards in 2015 and 2016. She also hosted the American Music Awards in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, she hosted The Fashion Awards.

In 2019, Tracee helped create Mixed-ish with Kenya Barris. This show is a prequel to Black-ish. Tracee is the narrator for the series. In 2020, Tracee played Grace Davis, a superstar singer, in the musical film The High Note. This was her first big movie role since 2007. The film was released online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In The High Note, Tracee sang for the first time in a movie. She recorded a soundtrack album called The High Note (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

Tracee was a speaker at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. In September 2020, she signed a deal with ABC Signature. In 2021, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

In 2022, after Black-ish ended, Tracee appeared in The Kids in the Hall. She also produced The Hair Tales, a docuseries for hulu and Oprah Winfrey Network. Later in 2022, she starred in the movie Cold Copy. She also starred with Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction (2023). In 2023, she starred with Eddie Murphy in the holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane.

Tracee's Personal Life

Tracee Ellis Ross is a very successful woman. In a 2018 interview, she shared that she is a good friend and a hard worker. She also mentioned that she won a Golden Globe! She supports Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Tracee's Business

Tracee Ellis Ross started her own company called Pattern Beauty. This company makes hair care products for curly and textured hair. She created the company in 2018. The products are made with safe ingredients. Pattern Beauty also supports groups that help women and people of color.

Filmography

Movies

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Far Harbor	Kiki
1997	Sue Lost in Manhattan	Linda
1999	A Fare To Remember	Jane
2000	Hanging Up	Kim
	In the Weeds	Caroline
2006	I-See-You.Com	Nancy Tanaka
2007	Daddy's Little Girls	Cynthia
2009	Labor Pains	Kristin
2019	Little	Homegirl	Voice
2020	The High Note	Grace Davis
2023	Cold Copy	Diane Heger
	American Fiction	Lisa Ellison
	Candy Cane Lane	Carol Carver
	Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé	Herself	Cameo
TBA	Jodie	Jodie Landon	Voice; completed production but dropped by MTV Entertainment Studios

Television Shows

Music Videos

Music Albums

• The High Note (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2020)

• "Love Myself" (single)
• "Stop For A Minute"
• "Bad Girl"
• "New To Me"
• "Like I Do" − with Kelvin Harrison Jr.
• Love Myself (Film Version) − with Amie Doherty

Awards and Nominations

See Also

In Spanish: Tracee Ellis Ross para niños

• African-American Jews