Mariann Aalda
Mariann Aalda is an American television, stage, film actress, performance artist, and stand-up comic. Career. Aalda is best known for her work in television as one of the first African-American daytime soap opera heroines, playing DiDi Bannister-Stoner on ABC's "The Edge of Night" from 1981 until the show's cancellation in 1984. For many years before that she was a writer-performer with the sketch comedy troupe Off Center Theatre in New York, and toured with the Boston-based improv group, The Proposition, along with notable animation voice actor and director, Charlie Adler. Later , she appeared on the CBS show "Guiding Light". She also had regular roles on the CBS sitcom "The Royal Family", as the daughter of Redd Foxx and Della Reese, and the HBO series "1st & Ten", as the wife of O. J. Simpson's character. Aalda also achieved notoriety recurring on the CBS sitcom "Designing Women", as Anthony's yuppie-from-hell girlfriend, Lita Ford, and on the NBC soap opera "Sunset Beach" as the tragically disfigured Lena Hart. She co-hosted the lifestyle show "Designs for Living" on the USA Network and was a reporter for the magazine show "NOW !" on WNBC in New York. Her numerous guest-star roles are mostly sitcoms. Aalda has also appeared in movies, co-starring in the urban cult film "Class Act" as rapper Kid's clueless mom, and as Coach Harrison in "Nobody's Perfect". She was a featured player in "Beaches" and "Pretty Woman", directed by Garry Marshall and The Wiz, directed by Sidney Lumet. She is a leader in the positive aging movement, with a TEDx Talk and AARP recognition as an "Age Disruptor". She is a prolific podcast guest on the topic of shameless aging. She is resident Age Anarchist  for Women of Color Unite (WOCU), a 5000-plus member advocacy group for women of color working both above and below the line in the entertainment industry. She also delivers her message on positive aging as a standup comedian and with her solo "existential comedy" show, "Getting Old Is a Bitch...But I'm Gonna Wrestle That Bitch to the Ground!", which broke a 30-year box office record at the 2019 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.