What can you say about a woman who is a talented Grammy Award-winning singer, multiple ASCAP & BMI Award-winning songwriter, film actor, and also a humanitarian to the nth degree? There is so much more to Dawnn Lewis than what meets the eye. Behind her undeniable beauty and charisma, lies a compassionate person, who not only takes great pride in her life and her gifts, but is also eager to share them with others.
Dawnn earned a special place in our hearts when she co-starred in one of our favorite 90s sitcoms, A Different World, a TV series that many of us still treasure. Dawnn played Jaleesa Vinson–Taylor on the NBC-TV hit show and in addition, also co-wrote the opening catchy theme song for the series. She is also best known for her role as Robin Dumars on the ABC-TV sitcom, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. And how many of us still can’t stop laughing every time we watch Dawnn’s performance as Cheryl Spade in the 80s blaxploitation parody, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, directed by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans.
The series TV creator/producer also has recurring roles on the hit TV shows Major Crimes (the spinoff of The Closer) and Better Call Saul (part of the Breaking Bad franchise) and was the narrator for BET’s popular bio series, Being. Dawnn has also gained quite a following with soap opera fans when she took on the role of Dr. Knapp on the long-running soap, Days of Our Lives. The gifted creative has also done several voiceovers in such hit animated films as Dino Time!, Big Hero 6, and Home.
Dawnn barely has time to catch her breath as she continues to act on stage and also on the small and big screen. And she is also a very much-in-demand vocalist. Under Dawnn’s Morning Jewel Music Inc. – a multi-platform production company in the areas of film, television, animation, music/music publishing & experiential events, she released her successful solo CD, Worth Waiting For; the title song is featured in the Disney movie THE POOF POINT soundtrack, in which she starred. The performer also continuously sells out concert venues throughout the country and abroad.
Humanitarianism is crucially important to Dawnn. She has used her powerful voice of advocacy to build awareness and support for countless organizations like The United Negro College Fund; American Cancer Society; The March of Dimes; The United States Conference on AIDS and The K.I.S. Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease, among others.
Dawnn’s most nearest-and-dearest-to-her-heart-effort to date is her A New Day Foundation. As the foundation’s CEO and founder, she has committed herself to pouring into the future through her nonprofit that was set up to empower underserved youth and grassroots organizations through educational initiatives and mentorship programs. Despite her notoriously busy schedule, Dawnn still manages to also teach master classes and give motivational speeches.
Relaxation is a rarity for Dawnn Lewis, but she allowed 50BOLD.com to peek into her Different World and we are so glad she did!
50BOLD: Now from what I understand, you were destined for stardom. You began singing as soon as you shed your Pampers!
Dawnn: Well, close to it (laughs).
50BOLD: We have something in common; Brooklyn. We were both from the borough.
Dawnn: There you go–Bed-Stuy!
50BOLD: Okay, do or die, Bed-Stuy! I’m from Madison between Lewis and Stuyvesant.
Dawnn: I was on Pulaski Street near Tompkins.
50BOLD: Oh wow, a homegirl!
Dawnn: There you go.
50BOLD: Were you a ham as a child?
Dawnn: Actually, not really.
50BOLD: No?
Dawnn: Not really. I really love a lot of things. I love sports, I love singing, I love dancing. I loved imitating people, especially accents, which has really, really been a blessing to me. Now that I’m older as an adult doing animation voiceover work, the accents helped create different characters. It’s all just come in very, very handy.
I have 3 brothers, so I grew up running between dance and singing classes, participating in recitals, and then, playing stickball, basketball and handball. All those kinds of things. I always just loved being active. I just felt really, really, well-rounded. I’m the only “entertainer” in my family.
As an adult, one of my older brothers picked up music and began playing bass. So, now that he’s retired, he plays in trios and in groups around the city. He’s done big stage concerts with performers like Lillo and other folks. But growing up, my family was just happy that I got involved with activities that I enjoyed. They were supportive of my going to dance classes. They would come to my recitals, but I don’t think they ever thought I’d make performing a career, until I became a teenager.
50BOLD: You have been very vocal about the physical abuse that took place in your family home growing up. Your dad was a policeman.
Dawnn: Actually, when I was younger, he was head of the Department of Homicide.
50BOLD: Very impressive!
Dawnn: I never knew him as an actual police officer. I don’t have any recollection or knowledge of my dad being a beat cop. I only knew him as a detective, which is a type of police officer, yes, sir. So, as a man of color in the 60s and in his position, he had primarily non-African Americans reporting to him, some of which were fine with it and others were not.
50BOLD: I can only imagine!
Dawnn: So, you know, there were complications and frustrations. My family is from Guyana in South America. So, in coming to the states, my dad gained his citizenship by being in the Air Force. You know, he had to deal with certain realities. For instance, my oldest brother was born in South Dakota. The hospital where my brother was born registered him as white.
For at least the first six to eight months of my brother’s life he was classified as white. The logic at the time was that if my brother was born in a South Dakota hospital, he had to be white because Black people were not born in that hospital. So, with these types of challenges, and not to make excuses for my dad, I can understand circumstances and environments that would challenge him emotionally and/or physically.
My dad was this incredibly smart, and incredibly charming person in public. But in private, it was a very, very different reality. My mom suffered as did I and my brothers. It got to a point where my mom had to leave us in order to save her life. We did not see our mom for almost two years. She left us with our dad. When my mom would report the violence to the police and try to get assistance, little to nothing was done. It was a time when people even in my mom’s own family would say, ‘Well, if you would have done what he told you to do, he wouldn’t have hit you!’ And going to a police station meant basically reporting my dad, their boss, to them, little to nothing was done.
And I’m grateful that we now live in a day and age where people who are being abused can seek help and be taken seriously. Before my dad passed, I’m really grateful and thank God that he had changed and had become a better person. He learned to handle his emotions and frustrations differently. But no, when we were all under the same roof, it was not pleasant. It was not good at all!
It was my dad’s mom who actually came to our rescue. We moved from Bed-Stuy into Park Slope, where she owned a brownstone. She had tenants renting out the upper floor of her building. She vacated the apartment so that we could live in it. We were there for two years before my mom was able to secure a job and get on her feet. She had started going to night school where she could come back and take care of us again. So yeah, it has been a journey. By the grace of God, our faith walk was the Lord who helped us find a better path. So, you know, you look for grace, and forgiveness, as opposed to focusing on what we didn’t have and what we had to endure.
50BOLD: The walk of faith can be challenging but if you stay the course…
Dawnn: You find a better way to get through each day. You find a better perspective on how to deal with things, situations.
50BOLD: Times were truly different back then and challenging for so many.
Dawnn: It was truly a different time back then. Like when I believed I had met the right person to marry, who had convinced me he was all these amazing things. We went through premarital counseling with my pastor and all of that. But once we got married, he immediately revealed himself to be a very different person. A very different person. It was like Jekyll and Hyde. And within just a couple of months of marriage, he thought it was a good idea to put his hands on me! He’d bounce me around the house, drag me down a flight of stairs, slam me up against walls, it was bad….
50BOLD: I don’t even know what to say…
Dawnn: Trying to fight a 6-foot 4 dude!? I didn’t do that! I got one good punch in to get him off me! I finally managed to get out from under him after being dragged down a flight of stairs. I got out of his house and out of the neighborhood! He lived on the East Coast. I lived on the West Coast. We hadn’t even officially moved in together. We never even actually lived together. It was that soon after we had gotten married that he revealed himself. Had he revealed that violent side about himself before we got married, it never would have happened!
50BOLD: I am so sorry all this happened to you.
Dawnn: Thank you and once the violence began, I was completely in shock. I never thought that after what I had experienced as a child, would come to be my reality as an adult! So, to find that I had now just married someone, and this was going to be my reality? No way! I immediately extricated myself from the situation and it took everything I had in me to call the police. Imagine, just months before the violence I really thought he was someone I was going to spend the rest of my life with…. And now, I was calling the police on him?
The thought of calling the police on a Black man was not something I just jumped to do. It was a very, very hard decision to make, but I also knew, that if he had struck me, he had done it before. A good friend of mine who lived nearby, came and picked me up off the side of the road. I was a mess. He helped me to get to a police officer. We filed a police report and went from there. My husband thought it was a good idea to try to besmirch my reputation by saying I attacked him. And the judge looked at me and then, looked at him. The judge then read the police report where he admitted to grabbing me, assaulting me, and preventing me from leaving the house. The judge then looked at my husband and said, ‘Sir, you sure you want to stick with the story that she beat you up. Really?’
What happened to me just goes to show you how it can happen to anyone. It can happen to anyone! I had never been to therapy before but I went! I would recommend therapy to anyone who has been on the receiving end of violence, or if you are the perpetrator; get some help! Talk to somebody. I was really hard on myself. How did I not see that coming? How could I not have known. I was blaming myself. My therapist helped me see that some of the people, a lot of the people who are perpetrators of this kind of violence, are skilled at it. They know how to study people. They know how to present themselves as harmless until they no longer have to present that way. So, sometimes it’s really way out of your control or power to know the difference.
But once you do see the difference, save yourself! Love yourself enough to know that you do not deserve to be treated badly. Empower yourself and love yourself. So, my therapist helped me to stop blaming myself.
After months and months of premarital counseling and all these other things, my husband presented himself as this churchgoing deacon. So, I speak out about the violence to let people know, how sometimes we ignore signs. The bottom line is love yourself enough to save yourself. So, this is why I am as transparent as I am about domestic violence, because it can happen to anyone.
50BOLD: It certainly can.
Dawnn: I thought I was too smart for it to happen to me and it did….
50BOLD: And through your transparency, you’re able to help so many other domestic violence victims.
Dawnn: That’s my desire.
50BOLD: At what point did you decide that acting would be your chosen profession? And what was your first role?
Dawnn: Wow, acting didn’t come into play until I was about 11. I began singing at age four, dancing at age seven, and acting at age 11. I began participating in school plays and doing recitals. Other than that, I honestly don’t recall what my first acting job was.
By the time I turned 14, I attended the High School of Music and Art. So, we held performances at the school. I had been auditioning for plays down at Henry Street and the Billie Holiday Theater in New York City. The Restoration down on Fulton Street had been built like less than a mile from where I grew up, I auditioned there as well. I didn’t get booked or anything at that time. But I performed a lot at school. We did plays like Hair. We did The Me Nobody Knows. Music and Art was where I received my formal vocal training. I was playing the cello and singing opera; I was classically trained. The High School of Music and Art is the school where the film and popular TV show, Fame was based on.
As a youngster, when I first started dancing, I danced on the stages of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall. All over the place.
50BOLD: So impressive!
Dawn: I graduated for Music and Art and started college at 16. Went down to the University of Miami and essentially helped to create my own degree program. So, I’m the founder and first graduate of the Musical Theater Degree Program at the University of Miami because I attended the university wanting to continue my education in dance, acting, and singing. And before I attended the university, I discovered they did not have a program that allowed for those diverse disciplines under one degree program. So, you were either a theater arts major or music major. So, when I arrived at the school, I created my own curriculum. I nearly got blasted for it, until they realized it was something school officials had been wanting to do.
50BOLD: Now, we adored you in, of course, in the 80s and 90s NBC-TV hit sitcom, A Different World, where you played Jaleesa Vincent. And a lot of people don’t know this factoid…you not only co-wrote the show’s theme song, but sang it as well.
Dawnn: I was a composer singer-songwriter. I had written for different recording artists. I was a jingles singer; I was a succession singer. I had my own record out; it was charting on Billboard. The musical director from the Cosby Show approached me about writing the theme song for this new Cosby spin-off. I was just wrapping up a Broadway show, The Tap Dance Kid with Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, Hinton Battle, and Dulé Hill was our kid. Dulé is like a little brother; I’ve known him since he was 10. Dulé has gone on to be an amazing artist in his own right.
When I heard there was a spin-off, I asked to audition for the show. They ultimately granted me an audition. The same day that they granted me an audition, the musical director called me about writing the show’s theme song. So, I wrote the theme song for A Different World based on my own personal experiences. Like I said, I was 16 when I began college and so, I was armed with morals, standards, and the expectations that my mom instilled in me. All I had was her voice in my head.
50BOLD: I know the song by heart even to this very day. Aretha Franklin really brings it all home, well, it is still one of the best TV show theme songs!
Dawn: When I wrote the theme song and was cast in the show, it was all within seven to eight days. It wasn’t until my last meeting with the casting directors, and producers of the show, and Mr. Cosby, that they realized I was the same person who had sung and written the theme song. It was then decided that I could no longer sing the theme song. They felt, there was going to be too much attention brought on me and it wasn’t my show.
50BOLD: Wow! What was it like working with such a phenomenal cast: Lisa Bonet, Marisa Tomei, Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison? You also worked with the great Sinbad. I’m sure it was a laugh a minute.
Dawnn: You know, at times Mary Alice was also part of our cast. Glynn Turman was also part of our cast. Lou Myers was Mr. Gaines, and the great actor, Roscoe Lee Brown, was also on-board.
50BOLD: So many stellars appeared on the show.
Dawnn: We had some amazing people, and the show kept changing, but you know, real, real, real talk. Everybody was amazingly talented. Everybody had their own personal journeys, some of which were challenging at times, and you bring it all to work. But at the end of the day, everybody brought 1000% to the game. So, working with this group of people was an exercise in excellence. It really was. It was an exercise in excellence. It was an exercise in stretching your boundaries. We got a lot of the attention really quickly, and some people processed it differently. Some people handled it well, some people didn’t handle it so well.
It was definitely a process, and we were young. We were Black. We were forward thinking, and ‘they’ often tried to play us against each other. And then you find out that your white counterparts on other shows are exponentially making more money than you and receiving more exposure. And their shows aren’t rated nearly as high as your show. Our show was produced by the same company who ultimately ended up producing Roseanne Barr’s show as well. And you ultimately find out that we are not being treated as fairly because we’re just a group of young Black kids. ‘They’ don’t feel like they need to do this for you.
How are you the number one, the number two, show in the world for six years straight and never be nominated for an Emmy? How does this happen? How are you never even invited to the Emmys to hand an award to someone else? How does this happen!?
50BOLD: Unbelievable and so unfair!
Dawnn: You learn the realities about this business as you go along. Well, my cast members and I are now out and about. We have sponsorship from incredible corporations like Cisco Systems and Wells Fargo that are now helping us to continue the legacy of what A Different World has done which is to increase enrollment in HBCUs across the country and in the general population at higher educational institutions around the world. There has not been a day, since that show first aired in 1987, that it has not been on television. The show was inspiring, empowering, and challenged people to be their best selves. So, it is an extreme honor to be a part of this legacy.
50BOLD.com: I’m also sure former Vice President Kamala Harris was a fan of A Different World. I read you and your cast members met with her.
Dawnn: Well, she went to an HBCUs, Howard University. She’s an alumnus.
50BOLD: Yes, I know she went to Howard.
Dawnn: And when we visited Howard University, she granted us the opportunity to have a special private sit down with her in the White House for about 20 minutes. And she even blessed me and A New Day Foundation, my foundation, with a letter of support at our recent conference back in June. She wrote the most beautiful letter to our participants and me. She encouraged us to keep up the good work, to keep striving to be our best selves, to pour into ourselves, and to fight for what we are due. So, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the former Vice President Kamala Harris.
50BOLD: What an incredible and thrilling honor indeed! Now, are you still in touch with Sinbad by any chance?
Dawnn: All the time. He was my brother from the day we shot the pilot.
50BOLD: How is he coming along?
Dawnn: He is well. Sinbad’s mind is as sharp as a tack and his body is slowly but surely catching up to it. Sinbad was our warmup guy when the show first began and he and I have been friends since day one. That’s my brother.
50BOLD: Do you think there ought to be a reboot of A Different World down-the-line?
Dawnn: I never, say never, who knows? For the longest time, folks were lashing out at Mr. Cosby because of the issues he was facing in his personal life to justify not doing a reboot. There’s so much going on in the world today and so many other people have been forgiven and have gotten past whatever their indiscretions were. You know, like I said, I never, say never, who knows?
50BOLD: So true, you never know…. Now, you co-starred in another beloved 90s sitcom, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper starring the phenomenal Mark Curry. He’s another outstanding comedian. I used to watch him all the time and he is hilarious! A friend of mine was the head audio person at the Apollo Theater and I would get to see all of the shows there. As far as Showtime At the Apollo hosts, Mark was definitely the best.
Dawnn: So, A Different World and Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper definitely placed me on an international platform.
50BOLD: You have also done stage work? Broadway?
Dawnn: A couple of years ago I was on Broadway doing Tina in The Tina Turner Musical. Then I appeared in a few dozen different movies, everything from I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Dream Girls, Race to Freedom and then some. I also did at least three or four dozen different animated shows and movies; I’m on a dozen shows now. I mean, I’m grateful for the legacy and variety that my career has afforded me and it just keeps going. And God bless the fans that follow me wherever I go, whether it’s to a concert, an animation voiceover gig, Broadway show, or new TV series, I’m just really, really grateful for the continued support.
50BOLD: Tell us about your organization, A New Day Foundation, how it came to be, and how can we support this wonderful endeavor?
Dawnn: Thank you, thank you so much for asking. I really appreciate it. Well, A New Day Foundation is an offshoot. Growing up, I had teachers who poured into me at an early age, they helped me to get through, what I was going through, at different stages of my life. I wanted to also pour into the lives of students who are, where I once was.
At one point, I’d never heard the term motivational speaker. One day I realized, I had something to possibly offer others that would lend support and encouragement. So, up until about eight years ago, I was doing motivational speaking on my own dime, or whenever someone would contract me to come and do a workshop or a Masterclass for their organization or school. I wanted to do something on a national level, so I approached a few of the organizations I had been supporting by making appearances, and they would say, ‘Well, Dawnn, we want to help you, but we can’t just give you money. You have to become an official nonprofit.’ This is how I formalized A New Day Foundation. It’s a 501C3 nonprofit, so all of our fundraising, all of the money we raise enables us to put together programs and conferences free of charge to participants.
Through A New Day Foundation, we make information and opportunities available to underserved youth and communities across the country and abroad. We have also supported efforts in Guyana, South America where my family is from, to India, London, and Costa Rica. That’s what we do. Right now, how you can help to get the word out about my foundation is to visit the website, www.anewdayfoundation.net.
Your readers can seek out our programs to learn when we’re in a nearby city holding an event. Come out and support! Donations of $5, $10–whatever folks can do, all of the money helps to provide our programs. We have a program for teen boys and one for teen girls. We offer these kids experiences where we introduce them to different cultural and career opportunities that they don’t normally have access to, or even know about. We’ve done everything from taking them camping, to holding coding workshops, to taking them to see how government works, to exposing them to a recording studio, so they can see how to make and produce their own animation and video game projects. We’ve even held father/son workshops led by my dear friend and brother Dondré Whitfield.
50BOLD: The workshops sound incredible and are so needed especially in our community.
Dawnn: Annually, we hold a Focused N F.I.T. For A Different World Conference. It is held on different college campuses every year. We focus on financial literacy and technology with workshops on health and wellness, along with motivational activation skill sets management. We’ve been doing full day conferences and at the end of the day, we award anywhere from 6 to 12 scholarships, $2000 each and a new laptop to high school graduates who are currently enrolled or have already enrolled in college. So, we’ve been doing these conferences for the last eight years with A New Day Foundation. And every now and between, I actually get a job and work as an actor, musician, or producer (laughs).
50BOLD: You really do it ALL! THANK YOU because the work you are doing with your foundation is so needed for our youth. You appeared in one of my favorite movies, Stomping at the Savoy. What was it like being directed by Debbie Allen in the film?
Dawnn: Well, I’ve spent a lot of years being directed by Debbie Allen. I also did an animated series called C-Bear and Jamal with Tone Loc and Debbie directed a number of the episodes. And then remember, Debbie also directed for a few years on A Different World. Debbie is definitely a force!
50BOLD: Oh, without a doubt and one to be reckoned with for sure! Tell me, what was it like working with Keenen Ivory Wayans in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka? I believe that laughter is therapy and every now and then, if I feel down, I’ll throw the movie on, watch it and get my laugh on. How did you all manage to keep your composer working with Keenen and your wonderful co-stars?
Dawnn: It was not always easy. We had a really great time and some of those people remained my friends until the day they passed away, and I’m talking about people like Bernie Casey and Isaac Hayes. But Keenen was a very brilliant, very compassionate director. We had a lot of fun. He was a practical joker, like in the scene where I had cramps, my head spun around, and my eyes looked all crazy. I was wearing contact lenses, and really couldn’t see. So, Keenen thought it was funny to walk me right into stuff around the set because I couldn’t see. He thought that was hilarious! The cast was really, really brilliant. We had a great time and it’s an honor to again be part of a project that’s considered a classic.
So, throughout my career, I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of different projects you know, sometimes a big part, sometimes a small one but that are now considered legendary. Everything from Sucka, A Different World, Cooper, Dream Girls, the list goes on and on. So, I’m grateful. It’s been quite the journey.
50BOLD: And your journey is still going on; the best is definitely yet to come.
Dawnn: Oh, I believe it, absolutely!