Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad attend the New York Magazine Oscar Viewing Party on February 24, 2008 in New York City. Photo:

“We grew up with not a lot of money. We grew up with racial segregation. We grew up not being able to go to ballet class or downtown to a restaurant or to a movie,” Debbie told the Los Angeles Times.

Phylicia and Debbie’s mom is a Pulitzer Prize nomineeDebbie Allen, Vivian Ayers and Phylicia Rashad attend the Broadway Opening Night of ‘Saint Joan’ on April 25, 2018 in New York City.

More recently, Vivian’s poem “On Status” was performed by her daughters and sampled by Houston-𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 artist Solange on the 2019 album When I Get Home.

Phylicia and Debbie lived in Mexico CityDebbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad attending “The Kennedy Center Honors Awards” on December 2, 1984 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Three years after their parents divorced in 1957, Vivian moved Phylicia and Debbie from Houston to Mexico City for nine months. “Mom was tired of the segregation and the racism, so she decided to take us out of here,” Debbie told The Washington Post.

The Grey’s Anatomy star had faced discrimination while trying to take classes at the Houston Foundation for Ballet (now Houston Ballet Foundation), but in Mexico, she danced with the Ballet Nacional de Mexico. “There were no other 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren. But Debbie was there, holding her own,” Phylicia remembered.

They are Howard University graduatesDebbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad attend The 2011 Alfred Mann Foundation’s Annual Black Tie Gala Honoring Quincy Jones on October 16, 2011 in Santa Monica, California.

Debbie established The Dr. Andrew Arthur Allen, Sr. Memorial Scholarship at Howard University in honor of their father. One of its famous recipients, Taraji P. Henson, thanked her in a video montage that was released to celebrate the release of Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, a film about Debbie and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Houston that she founded in 2000.

In 2021, after working as an instructor at Howard University, Phylicia was appointed dean of the college of fine arts. That same year, Howard renamed the school the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts following the 2020 death of the Black Panther star. Boseman was also one of Phylicia’s former students, along with Susan Kelechi Watson, who was Phylicia’s TV daughter on This Is Us.

“I never saw myself as a dean. But then, I’ve never thought of myself as many things that I’ve been,” Phylicia told Variety upon her appointment. “It’s exciting to think about building towards a future with a College of Fine Arts and Howard University.”

After three years in the position, she stepped down from the role in May 2024. “I don’t always know what’s next and I like that because it’s what I don’t know that interests me most,” The Cosby Show alum told WUSA9 before her departure.

Phylicia and Debbie guest-starred on each other’s TV showsDebbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad at the Television Academy 26th Hall of Fame on November 16, 2022 in North Hollywood, California.

Throughout their television careers, the sisters have made guest appearances on each of their long-running series, The Cosby Show and Grey’s Anatomy.

Debbie appeared in a 1988 episode of The Cosby Show, “If the Dress Fits, Wear It.” The actress and choreographer played Emma, an enthusiastic fitness instructor leading an exercise class that Clair goes to when she’s trying to fit into an old dress.

Decades later, Debbie shared a video of their scenes together on her Facebook page with the caption, “#TBT to Lish and I on The Cosby Show!”

In 2021, Phylicia guest starred on Grey’s Anatomy in the season 17 episode, “Sign O’ the Times,” but did not share the screen with her sister. In it, she played Nell Timms, a woman impaled on a tear gas canister at the Seattle protests following the death of George Floyd.

They both married sports starsPhylicia Rashad and Ahmad Rashad attend Spike Lee and Tanya Lewis’ Wedding Ceremony on October 2, 1993 in New York City. ; Debbie Allen and Norm Nixon attend the 21st Annual First Ladies High Tea on September 8, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.

In 1985, Phylicia married former professional football player and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad while she was starring as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show. (She previously wed dentist William Lancelot Bowles, Jr. and the original lead singer of the Village People, Victor Willis.)

Debbie Allen’s 3 Kids: All About Vivian, Norman Jr. and DeVaughnThey’ve appeared on BroadwayDebbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad attend Tyler Perry Studios grand opening gala at Tyler Perry Studios on October 05, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Phylicia’s Broadway career began in 1971 and she’s starred in 13 productions, including Dreamgirls, Into the Woods and August: Osage County.

In 2004, she was the first Black actress to win the Tony Award for best actress in a play for her performance as Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. Nearly a decade later, in 2022, she earned her second Tony win for Skeleton Crew. The following year, she became a Broadway producer on the play Purlie Victorious, starring Leslie Odom, Jr.

Debbie started her career on Broadway in 1970 and has been a part of seven different productions as a dancer, actress, choreographer and director. She starred as Anita in the 1980 production of West Side Story, and in the 1986 production of Sweet Charity, she played the title role. Debbie received Tony nominations for both performances.

In addition to their on-screen collaborations, Phylicia and Debbie have worked together on the Broadway stage. Debbie directed Phylicia in the 2008 production of the Tennessee Williams’ drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which also featured James Earl Jones, Anika Noni Rose and Terrence Howard.

Phylicia and Debbie are directorsDebbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad arrive for the formal Artist’s Dinner honoring the recipients of the 39th Annual Kennedy Center Honors on December 3, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Some of her most prominent directorial credits are 83 episodes of A Different World — which she also produced — and 40 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy to date, in addition to starring and executive producing the long-running series.

Meanwhile, Phylicia has directed stage productions like Gem of the Ocean and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, per Britannica. Although she hasn’t sat in the director’s chair for a film or TV project yet, she’s considered it in the past, according to Los Angeles Times.

Phylicia and Debbie’s kids followed in their footstepsCondola Rashad, Vivian Nixon Williams, Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen.

Vivian Nixon, Debbie’s daughter, was exposed to the world of TV as an infant, joining her mother on set. “I was in the bassinet under the piano during Fame,” she told Town & Country.

Nixon’s stage career has included an appearance on Broadway in Hot Feet and the role of Anita — the same role her mother played — in a touring production of West Side Story. On TV, she played Dr. Hannah Brody on Grey’s Anatomy and its spinoff, Station 19.

She is an accomplished Broadway actress and four-time Tony nominee for her performances in Stick Fly, The Trip to Bountiful, A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Saint Joan. She is also a film and TV star, and in 2023, she wrapped a seven-season run as Kate Sacker on the Showtime drama Billions.