Victoria Dillard

Victoria Dillard (born September 20, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her co-starring role as Janelle Cooper in the ABC sitcom Spin City.

Biography

Early life

Dillard was born in New York, New York. She began performing at the age of five with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She worked with the company until she was eighteen, appearing in such productions as " Porgy and Bess " at the Metropolitan Opera. Then she went on tour with Mickey Rooney in " A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ". When the run ended in California, she was cast in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation playing a crew member, which earned her her union card.

Career

Dillard was in Playboy (November 1988, Vol. 35, Iss. 11, pg. 132-133, by: Bruce Williamson) in the article Sex In Cinema 1988. Next she performed in George Schlatter's new version of "Laugh-In" as the Goldie Hawn character. In 1988 she was a bather/dancer opposite James Earl Jones and Eddie Murphy in her first feature film, Coming to America.

In addition to the 1997 TV movie The Ditchdigger's Daughters, her other television credits include:

18 February 1993 "The Old Man" episode of Seinfeld;
10 May 1994 "You Shouldn't Have To Lie" episode of Roc;
14 April 1994 Silence Is Golden episode of L.A. Law,
22 September 1994 "Over the Rainbow"
6 October 1994 "With The Greatest Of Ease" episodes of Chicago Hope as Dr. Nadine Winslow,
3 December 1995 "Three Homies and a Baby" episode of Martin as Sharon
27 August 1996 "The List" episode of Moesha" as Beverly
17 December 2001 "Angel's Flight" episode of Family Law as Marcia Henderson and
19 May 2006 "COD" season 14 finale episode of Law & Order as Belinda Gardner L&O COD info

Victoria's movie credits include Deep Cover, Murder in Mississippi, The Glass Shield, Internal Affairs, Albert and Out of Sync. Victoria's most memorable professional role to date may be as the wife of Denzel Washington's character in the 1991 movie Ricochet. About Denzel, she says "He really taught me a lot about the process"; and adds that she remains friends with most of the cast members from that film. Her most recent television role was as Janelle Cooper in the ABC sitcom Spin City. She stayed on the show for three seasons before leaving in 2000.

Her most recent film role was as Betty Shabazz in the 2001 film Ali.

Personal life

Dillard lives in Los Angeles. She dances in her free time and writes screenplays and plays for the stage. Dillard was long-time girlfriend of actor Laurence Fishburne from 1992 until __. The two met while both were filming the movie Deep Cover.