[web_stories title="false" excerpt="false" author="false" date="false" archive_link="true" archive_link_label="" circle_size="150" sharp_corners="false" image_alignment="left" number_of_columns="1" number_of_stories="5" order="DESC" orderby="post_title" view="circles" /]
Keshia Knight Pulliam was born in Hilliard, Ohio on April 9, 1979. She is the youngest of seven children born to preacher parents. She received her first acting role as Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show when she was four years old. Over the years, this led to countless other possibilities, including roles in films such as Madea’s Family Reunion and House of Payne.
Table of Contents
Keshia Knight Pulliam Early Years
Keshia Knight Pulliam was born in Newark, New Jersey on April 9, 1979. She was raised by her mother, Denise, her father, James Sr. (a manager), and her brothers, James, Mershon, and Juwan. Keshia’s parents sent her to a local talent agency when she was 5 months old, and at 9 months old, she earned a national print ad for Johnson & Johnson.
Read More:
She attended Rutgers Preparatory School before moving to Virginia with her family after “The Cosby Show” ended, where she attended the Potomac School and Foxcroft School. Knight Pulliam graduated from Foxcroft in 1997 and from Spelman College in 2001 with a B.A. in sociology. Keshia was a member of the Spelman sorority Delta Sigma Theta.
Keshia Knight Pulliam’s Career
Following Knight Pulliam’s Johnson & Johnson commercial, she began booking advertisements and appeared on “Sesame Street” at the age of three. She earned the life-changing role of Rudy Huxtable on the NBC sitcom “The Cosby Show” in 1984.
Keshia starred in 177 episodes and was nominated for multiple awards for her performance. She also appeared as Rudy in the films “Back to Next Saturday” (1985), “A Different World” (1987-1988), and “The Earth Day Special” (1989).
Knight Pulliam made her big screen debut in “The Last Dragon” in 1985, and she appeared in the TV movie “The Little Match Girl” in 1987. She also appeared in “Polly” (1989) and “Polly Comin’ Home” (1990) with her TV mother, Phylicia Rashad, and in the 1987 made-for-TV film “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”
Keshia won celebrity versions of “The Weakest Link” and “Fear Factor” in 2001 and 2002, respectively, and competed on “Celebrity Mole: Yucatán” in 2004. She then starred in 2005’s “Beauty Shop” and “The Gospel” before landing her award-winning role on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne on TBS, where she appeared in 95 episodes.
Despite the fact that the show ended in 2012, it was reported in February 2020 that a ninth season would run on BET. Knight Pulliam has also been in the films “Cuttin Da Mustard” (2008), “Death Toll” (2008), and “Madea Goes to Jail” (2009), as well as on the television shows “Psych” (2010) and “Guys with Kids” (2013).
Keshia was the first competitor ousted from the seventh season of “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2015, and she was the second houseguest evicted from “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2018 after asking to leave the game for personal reasons.
Keshia Knight Pulliam’s Private Life
Keshia got engaged to retired NFL star Edgerton Hartwell on New Year’s Eve in 2015, and they married the next day at Knight Pulliam’s Atlanta house. In July 2016, she disclosed her pregnancy eight days before Hartwell filed for divorce. Ella, Keshia’s daughter, was born on January 23, 2017.
Ed’s divorce was finalized in April 2018. Hartwell sought joint custody of Ella, but Keshia was granted primary custody, and Ed was compelled to pay $3,000 in child support per month. Knight Pulliam claimed in April 2020 that Hartwell owed her about $32,000 in late child support. In 2019, Keshia began dating her “Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta” co-star Brad James.
Keshia Knight Pulliam Awards
For “The Cosby Show,” Knight Pulliam received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1986. She received NAACP Image Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009, 2010, and 2012, as well as a nomination in 2011 for “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”; she also won in 1988 for “The Cosby Show” and was nominated in 2003 for “What About Your Friends: Weekend Getaway.
” Keshia got a Kids’ Choice Award in 1991 for Favorite TV Actress for “The Cosby Show,” as well as a People’s Choice Award in 1988 for Favorite Young TV Performer. She was also nominated for four Young Artist Awards, and in 1989, she and her “The Cosby Show” castmates shared the award for Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series, or Special.
Keshia Knight Pulliam’s Net Worth
Keshia Knight Pulliam is a $6 million net worth American actress. Knight Pulliam is most recognized for her role as Rudy Huxtable, Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s lively, pint-sized youngest daughter, on the sitcom “The Cosby Show” from 1984 until 1992.
Comments are closed.