Debbie allen dancer biography illnesses death

From her early days on Broadway to directing, producing and starring on 'Grey's Anatomy', take a look back at some of the Emmy-winner's biggest moments. Her work previously appeared in Newsweek. Debbie Allen has been an icon of the stage and screen for more than four decades! The multi-hyphenate, who turns 75 on Jan. Now, as she continues to run the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, star as Catherine Fox on Grey's Anatomy , and be "Ma D" to her grandkids, here's a look back at her impressive life and career in photos.

Debbie Allen was born on Jan. Her mom, Vivian Allen , now , is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and scholar while her father, Andrew, worked as a dentist seen here with Debbie. Instead, Vivian installed a ballet barre in their home and hired a dancer to come teach Allen and later, moved her children to Mexico City to escape the discrimination and racism they faced in the United States.

Andrew arthur allen sr. ethnicity

After the family returned to Houston, Debbie became the first Black dancer to join the Houston Ballet Foundation at age 14, Shondaland explained. When Allen was ready to go to college, she was again faced with an uphill battle. Though feeling confident about her audition to the North Carolina School of the Arts, she was not accepted because of her "body type.

It stopped me until my mother made me know that I could not have a pity party. She instead enrolled at Howard University before moving to New York City and kicking off her decades-long career on stage and screen. Allen landed her first Broadway role in as a dancer in Purlie and soon after originated the role of Beneatha Younger in Raisin, the musical adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.

That same year, Allen had her breakout role onscreen as Lydia Grant in Fame — a role she would reprise in a Golden Globe- and Emmy-award winning performance in the movie's television adaptation.