Valarie Pettiford

Valarie Pettiford is an American actress, dancer, and jazz singer born on July 8, 1960, in Queens, New York, to Ralph and Blanch Pettiford. She graduated from the High School of Performing Arts in 1978, the same year she made her first film appearance as part of the ensemble in The Wiz, having been cast at age 17 while still enrolled at the school.

Pettiford's Broadway career spans from 1978 to 1999 and includes productions such as Sophisticated Ladies, Grind, Big Deal, Show Boat, and Fosse. Her early stage work drew critical attention, including a 1983 New York Times review of Ladies and Gentlemen, Jerome Kern! in which critic Alvin Klein described her as a dancer of balletic finesse and Broadway-style technique with a commanding stage presence. In 1987, she appeared in West Side Story, playing Anita, a role that earned her a New York Times notice from critic Leah Frank, who called her portrayal spicy, sensual, and full of fire. From 1995 to 1996, Pettiford toured as Julie in Show Boat before the production moved to Broadway.

Her most recognized Broadway credit is Fosse, in which she performed from 1998 to 1999. The role earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical as well as a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination. Variety noted her as a sultry and powerful dancer who also delivered coolly elegant vocal performances. Following her run in Fosse, Pettiford took on the role of Velma Kelly in the West End production of Chicago in London from August 1999 to February 2000, appearing alongside Chita Rivera, who played Roxie Hart.

Beyond Broadway, Pettiford has maintained an active presence in film and television. Her film credits include a starring role as Mariah Carey's mother in the 2001 film Glitter, a part in Stomp the Yard in 2007, and the role of Aunt Geneva in the 2011 film Jumping the Broom. On television, her first series appearance was in a 1988 episode of The Equalizer, and she later originated the role of Sheila Price on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live, also appearing on Another World. From 2002 to 2006, she played Deirdre "Big Dee Dee" LaFontaine Thorne on the UPN sitcom Half & Half, a role that brought her three NAACP Image Award nominations. She appeared in Tyler Perry's House of Payne from 2008 to 2009, and has held recurring roles on The Blacklist as the wife of FBI Assistant Director Harold Cooper and on A Discovery of Witches as the witch Emily Mather. She also plays Carol Dante in the 2021 reboot of The Equalizer and portrays Charlotte Duncan on Carl Weber's The Family Business. In September 2024, she joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Amy Lewis.

Pettiford released a jazz album, Hear My Soul, in 2005 while appearing on Half & Half. In 2007, she won the Backstage Bistro Award for her cabaret debut at the Metropolitan Room in New York City and received an NAACP Theatre Award for her lead role in The Wild Party. She followed those appearances with two solo shows: Valarie Pettiford — Thankful, which played in New York City and Los Angeles in 2008, and Valarie Pettiford — The Concert, performed in New York City in 2009. Pettiford is married to her manager, actor and former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tony Rader, to whom she became engaged in 1991.