My parents separated soon after and my mother, brother and myself up and moved to Malibu, CA. Talk about culture shock! Philly to Malibu? Cheese steaks to surfers? We felt like the Beverly Hillbillies only without the oil well! We moved there because a dear, departed family friend, the late actor Cleavon Little, let us stay for free in his beach house while he was performing on Broadway. This allowed my mom to get on her feet and figure out what she could do to support her two children.

She went to work for a talent agency where she discovered her penchant for managing talent, eventually landing LeVar Burton as her first management client, just days before the television phenomenon Roots aired. Around this time, at the age of 11, I began working as a celebrity correspondent on the show Kidsworld which gave me the unique opportunity to interview dozens of celebrities.

Meanwhile my brother and I adjusted quickly to our new schools where we fast became friends with many classmates who would eventually become very famous.

With both my mom and my dad in the show business, I had an early desire to sing & act as well, with a big emphasis on singing. I dabbled around with a few acting parts here and there when I was in junior high school, but my dad was always breathing down my neck about completing high school and college. His worst fear was that I would quit school for the bright lights of Hollywood.

I never took anything too seriously until after I graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1986. I then gave myself a time limit of three months to land a truly substantial acting job, or - I'd go to grad school. 'Lo and behold- 2 1/2 months after graduation- like divine clockwork comes 21 Jumpstreet. What a wild five year ride that show was!

It taught me invaluable lessons about the business and life in general. This show's unending worldwide popularity never ceases to amaze me. It opened up and started for me what is now a 13 year blessed career in television and it made a superstar out of Johnny Depp. I will be forever indebted to producers Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh for that shot.

After 101 dramatic episodes of Jumpstreet, I was excited to try comedy and I gave it a shot in Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, which also lasted five seasons (actually 4 1/2). It took me a couple of seasons to really get the comedic timing down-pat. Believe me folks, sitcoms are a lot harder than they seem. I really enjoyed this new learning experience. Working with Mark Curry was a pure blast! This show led me to my current project and my favorite: For Your Love (Friday, 9:30pm on the WB network).

This sitcom is such pure joy to work on that I'd do it for free! (Not!) But seriously though, this is a dream show and I hope it lasts forever! I only wish more network programmers would give us more shows like For Your Love - multi-ethnic romantic comedy with humor that can appeal to everyone, celebrating the things we have in common instead of highlighting our differences as so many other shows do. It is possible to be politically correct and funny!

When I shot the pilot for For Your Love, I was 10 weeks pregnant with twins - a boy and a girl - Ryan Elizabeth and Rodney Jackson, who are now almost two and 1/2. I know it's an old cliche, but motherhood really changes you. According to my husband, so does fatherhood!