What Happened To Lela Rochon From 'Waiting To Exhale'? - Unforgotten

hollywood in the 90s gave us an elite class of black actresses that are held in the highest regard to this day these women are the most beautiful the most talented and have worked in films that are considered classic decades later leela roshan is definitely a member of that club in the late 80s she took to the entertainment industry by storm and quickly became one of our favorite it girls in great company she's been on screen with the likes of holly berry and angela bassett if you didn't know her name her flawless face and amazing physique should definitely ring bells but it isn't just her physical beauty that makes leela a remarkable woman she's faced adversity that would make the average person exit the stage and never come back through it all she has remained gracious and her performances have stood the test of time this is why leela rashan is unforgotten leela is a los angeles native through and through there she was born and raised and even attended college she graduated from california state university dominguez hills in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism although her on-screen career started during her time in college becoming an actress wasn't her initial goal she would later share in interviews that opportunities to be on tv just fell in her lap and what she really aspired to be upon graduation was a journalist we're familiar with her roles in tv and film but leela's first taste of the entertainment world was being a breakdancer while filming her first gig as an extra in the cult dance movie break-in in 1982 she met the man who would become her first husband adolfo quinones also known as shabadoo the godfather of break dancing as a choreographer of lionel richie's all night long music video adolfo gave leela her first gig as lead dancer in 1983. she went on to play the love interest of luther vandross in the music video for its over now in 1985 and jail over for my forever love by levert in 1987. later in her career she would appear in more music videos including the videos for i get around by tupac in 1993. roshan got her first job as an actress at just 20 years old in the made for tv movie a bunny's tale in 1985. she plays charlotte who alongside cursed yali were playboy bunnies and the film was based on gloria steinman's experience in the playboy mansion in between starring in music videos and tv movies not to mention while still in college leela was a spudette starring in over 20 commercials as a spokesperson for the spuds mackenzie bud light brand she recalls this role being the reason she decided not to pursue journalism because she got the job in may and graduation was in june she would end up traveling all over the country as a spudette and even appeared in super bowl ads and talk shows like good morning america in an interview she told joanne quinn by the time i graduated i figured my foot was already in the door in show business i had just as much of a chance of becoming an actress as a newscaster so i just kept pursuing that the wayne's excel actress featured film debut was in 1986 blaxploitation film foxtrap starring fred williamson but like many of your favorite entertainers leela considers her role in the cosby show to be her first big break in 1987 she played veronica a friend of denise huxtable who was young pregnant and getting married she would go on to appear in multiple other tv shows until she got what she deemed her first real movie role as sunshine and eddie murphy's only directorial effort harlem nights in this cult classic eddie murphy and richard pryor play quick and sugar ray two nightclub owners who run into some trouble with a local gang leela's character sunshine is a call girl who was enlisted by the duo to seduce and distract the opposition she was considered the baby of the cast and co-starred alongside other big names like red fox and dela reese in the interview she said it was very scary my first time out there in the film and eddie's film seemed to get a lot of attention so it was kind of good just to be thrown out there harlem knights was widely successful grossing 95 million dollars against a 30 million dollar budget before she would go on to reunite with eddie murphy in another successful film you may remember her as cindy in a 1991 episode of the fresh prince of bel-air with will smith she had auditioned multiple times for the show and even went for the role of karen parsons hillary she told the indianapolis recorder i was still kind of fascinated with the role of hillary like why didn't i get that part but it made sense when karen did it because she had such a specific take on it that was her part she really owned it so i was a fan of the show you always watch the jobs you don't get that's why i watched the show and i really liked it so when i did get offered the role to play his girlfriend i figured it would be fun the next year roshan reunited with eddie murphy for the romantic comedy boomerang eddie assisted with developing the story with the other writers and suggested his harlem knights co-star for the role of christy in this film eddie plays a ladies man and leela's character is one of his love interests she recalls being excited that all of her scenes were one-on-one with eddie murphy in a comedic setting in 1995 leela landed her breakthrough leading role alongside whitney houston angela bassett the loretta divine for terry mcmillan's waiting to exhale the war winning film is an adaptation of terry mcmillan's 1992 novel of the same name wayne's excel is a romantic drama that centers four friends as they navigate complicated relationships with men leela plays robin stokes a high-powered executive who struggles to find a suitable partner after dumping her married boyfriend lily recalls not being a big enough name to even be able to audition for the role until terry mcmillan herself put in the word with the film's director forest whitaker she told oprah winfrey i had a really hard time being seen for the part i couldn't get an audition i wrote a letter to the forest i carried around a folder that said exhale i asked everybody that i knew if they knew terry mcmillan or force whitaker found somebody who knew terry begged her begged her to talk to forrest for him to see me i said please give me 10 minutes no give me five just get me in the door i fought so hard for it because i felt very right for robin and the fact that whitney was already cast was huge to me it was my first time in the lead role weighing the xl was a major success in a box office grossing a worldwide total of 81.45 million dollars it has since become a cultural favorite and was ranked in the 30 movies for that entire year for a role as robin leela received an mtv award a nomination for best female breakthrough performance and the naacp image award for outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture from then on leela rashaan became a household name she was a main part of the main cast of season one of the wayne's brothers playing sean wayne's girlfriend lisa she held a lead role in a fan favorite why do fools fall in love starring harley berry vivica a fox and lorenz tate in 1998 and in 1999 she starred alongside jamie foxx for any given sunday that same year she was going to marry her second and current husband training day director antoine fuqua her career had blossomed into something worth bragging about and she was in a marital bliss but after 2001 she wouldn't do any work no television or film for the next three years unfortunately things took a turn for the worse that year when leela suffered a miscarriage it never occurred to me that something so terrible would happen to me i was healthy physically i was athletic but i was working too much and i was stressed a week before i lost the baby i was at the golden globe smiling and grinning on the red carpet i didn't realize how stressed i was leela stresses how important it is to listen to your body the night before i lost the baby i crawled up the stairs thinking that i wouldn't make it because i was so tired i was working 16 hour days i was extremely unhappy on the cable network show and they weren't respectful of my pregnancy i couldn't even find my chair to sit down in between takes i finally made it up the stairs that night and i laid down the next day i went to work and my water broke you have to listen to your body just before her miscarriage leela worked on the set of a lifetime tv show the division which would be the last television show she would be part of for the next 10 years although she worked on a handful of movies during that time lila was relatively out of the spotlight for almost a decade and that is because six months after her miscarriage she became pregnant with the first child asia i basically gave up on acting for motherhood and it's a decision i have no regret about it's definitely hard to have a talent burning inside of you that you want to express and you can't because you're doing something else but this is an incredible part of womanhood in life to me having children is just more important than anything i understand it's not so for everybody but it is for me leela would go on to have her second child brando in 2004 and her family was complete the couple will go on to be married for nearly 20 years before their union was tainted with a scandal antoine was pictured in italy kissing nicole murphy eddie murphy's ex-wife although murphy apologized and insisted that we saw was a friendly kiss there was speculation that antoine was unhappy in the marriage because of roshan's weight gain leela was always chosen for her model-esque beauty in 1996 she was chosen by people's magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world and in 2000 she was voted by the readers of black men magazine as one of the 10 sexiest women of the year but after antoine was caught with nicole photos circulated of his wife appearing heavier than she did in the 90s which is obviously understandable after 20 years and two children roshan and her husband remained silent on the controversy until leela was spotted on the red carpet at the premiere of the own tv series that she starred in david makes man a reporter asked how she was doing to which she responded happily married although mostly caring for her children today roshan has made appearances in guest starring roles in brief parts and films in 2017 she appeared in three episodes of the series training date based off the 2001 film of the same name in addition to this she's recently had parts in the series david makes man in 2019 she was most recently seen in 2022 and bt's her presents the couch laila rashan and the rest of the waiting xl cast open doors for today's black female storytellers like ava durvinay katori hall and more this is perhaps why rashaan got a nod from issa rae in a 2021 episode of insecure her appearance felt like a warm hug from a long lost friend having kiki palmer appear in the same episode felt like a message to the special elite class of actresses that black female representation in hollywood is in good hands we hope the message is received there will be no us without them and we are forever indebted leela rashan is the epitome of beauty class and resilience in an industry that doesn't always hold us up where we should be and that is why lila rashaan is unforgotten

Channel: Comedy Hype

Views: 1,141,349

Keywords: comedy, jokes, laughter, stand-up, comedy hype, comedians, kim parker, monique, moesha show, best comedians, new funny, new show, professor olglevee, hollywood divas, unforgotten show, women in comedy, queens of comedy, brandy sitcom, q moesha, documentary, lela rochon, unforgotten, hype plus, waiting to exhale, boomerang, harlem nights, why do fools fall in love, any given sunday, the meteor man, whitney houston

Id: QTq6pO0d1QI

Length: 10min 42sec (642 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 05 2022