Suzzanne Douglas

Suzzanne Douglas was an American actress. She is best known for her role as matriarch Jerri Peterson on The WB sitcom The Parent 'Hood, starring Robert Townsend which ran from 1995–1999. Douglas portrayed Amy Simms in the 1989 dance/drama film Tap alongside Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr, for which she received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. In addition to Tap, Douglas has starred in several other motion pictures, among them How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Jason's Lyric (1994), The Inkwell (1994) as well as the 2003 Disney/ABC version of Sounder with Carl Lumbly. Douglas is also best known for her portrayal as Cissy Houston in the Lifetime TV movie Whitney in 2015. In 2019, she appeared as the mother of one of the main characters in When They See Us (Netflix), directed by Ava DuVernay.