Terri J. Vaughn has entertained us on television for seven seasons as a series regular. First, she stole America's heart with her lovable portrayal of Lovita Alizay Jenkins on the WB's The Steve Harvey Show. After that, Vaughn made her way to UPN's All of Us. With her fun, energetic and wise portrayal of Jonelle Abrams, she once again brought life and laughter to the small screen. Before Vaughn ever entered a beauty pageant on a lark, was handed her first audition and became a sitcom star, she was growing up in the Ridgeview Terrace Housing Project in Hunter's Point in San Francisco. Today this woman is so hell-bent on creating positive, inspirational experiences for other young women growing up in the projects.

Out of her desire to give back to her community, Vaughn started Take Wings Foundation. We motivate, uplift and inspire young girls, 13 to 18 years old, growing up in public housing and foster care, throughout the San Francisco, Bay Area, to be positive, productive and successful. It's truly amazing to watch them soar.

Vaughn was born on October 16th in San Francisco to Helen, who was a secretary at the housing project where they lived and who also worked at Bullock's department store. There were a lot of gangs, drugs and liquor stores in the neighborhood where Vaughn and her younger sister, Tracy, grew up.

Vaughn participated in her church choir and fashion shows, worked at McDonald's and excelled scholastically. Unfortunately, she also had to contend with girls from her neighborhood wanting to beat her up. Attributing the bullies' anger to their own low self-esteem, Vaughn sighs, It was a sad situation, they didn't see any hope and their world was limited. It's really important to me that girls living there today don't feel that same sense of hopelessness. Determined to go to college, and to drive there in her own car, Vaughn spent the summer working two jobs - day shifts as an operator and nights sorting mail at the post office - and drove to California State University at Hayward in her new Dodge Colt. When I set my mind on something, I usually get it, asserts Vaughn. During her senior year of college, a friend asked Vaughn to participate in the Miss Black California Pageant.

With the help of her family, Vaughn's staged reading of the Lady in Blue from For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf was a huge hit. She not only won the Oakland pageant and made it to the finals in Los Angeles, she impressed a judge, who asked her to audition for a play he was producing. I didn't know what an audition was, says Vaughn, who accepted nonetheless and showed up to the cattle call with her photo. It was 4 x 6, in color and I was wearing all this make-up, laments the now-mortified Vaughn. Soon Vaughn was off on a 20-city tour of Tellin' it Like it Tiz. The tour ended in Los Angeles with Vaughn at the Oakwood apartments, home to all new actors. Focused on her new career, taking acting classes and doing more theater, Vaughn soon landed her first role on a sitcom, Living Single. Shortly after, Vaughn found herself improvising with Joe Pesci in the feature Eight Heads in a Duffle Bag and won another featured role in Keenan Ivory Wayans' Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.

Vaughn demonstrated her amazing dramatic skills with her memorable turn as a mother falsely accused of beating her baby on ER and she shocked Showtime viewers when she passionately kissed Byrd when she portrayed Eva Holly, a lesbian, during her multi-episode guest appearance on the groundbreaking series, Soulfood. Vaughn has been honored with three Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work on The Steve Harvey Show, and received a nomination for a 2005 BET Comedy Award for her work on All of Us. But this multi-faceted thespian doesn't stop there; she was also nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Soulfood. Always smiling, unless she's crying tears of happiness, she's a girl from humble beginnings who tells everyone to take wings. Vaughn never intended to become an actress, but she's using her success to reach others and inspire them. Vaughn's infectious positive energy, and altruistic spirit, has enabled her to soar right out of the projects. Terri J. Vaughn is certainly flying high.

Filmography

• Three Can Play That Game (2008)
• Redrum (2007)
• Daddy's Little Girls (2007)
• Dirty Laundry (2006)
• Stick It (2006)
• "All of Us" (19 episodes, 2003-2005)
• Exposure (2005)
• Fair Game (2005)
• "Soul Food" (4 episodes, 2002-2003)
• Detonator (2003)
• "Girlfriends" (1 episode, 2003)
• "The Steve Harvey Show" (4 episodes, 1997-2002)
• The Smoker (2000)
• "ER" (1 episode, 1999)
• Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997)
• 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997)
• Carnosaur 3: Primal Species (1996)
• Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
• Excessive Force II: Force on Force (1995)
• Black Scorpion (1995)
• Friday (1995)
• "Sherman Oaks" (1 episode 1994)
• "Family Matters" (1 episode, 1994)
• "Married with Children" (1 episode, 1994)
• Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
• "The Sinbad Show" (1 episode, 1993)
• "Living Single" (1 episode, 1993)