Raven-Symoné

Template:Infobox musical artist 2

Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman (born December 10, 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American actress, R&B and pop singer, songwriter, dancer, television producer, and fashion designer, best known for her roles as Olivia Kendall on The Cosby Show and her own show That's So Raven as Raven Baxter. She is professionally known as Raven and Raven-Symoné. "Symoné" is always pronounced without the accent at the end, despite the spelling.

Biography

Early life and acting career

As an infant, Raven worked for Atlanta's Young Faces Inc. Modeling agency and was featured in local print advertisements. At age two, she worked with Ford Models, Inc. in New York City and appeared in ads for Ritz crackers, Jell-O, Fisher-Price, and Cool Whip.

At age three, she auditioned for the film Ghost Dad. She was too young for the role, but was recommended for a part in The Cosby Show, eventually being cast as Olivia in February 1989. In 1993, she joined the cast of ABC's sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper as Nicole, the daughter of Mark Curry's character Mark Cooper's cousin.

Raven went on to have roles in 1998 Dr. Dolittle and 1999 Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. In between her acting roles, Raven attended the North Springs High School, an Arts and Science high school in Sandy Springs, Georgia, where she graduated from the school in 2005.

In 2003, Raven began her role as Raven Baxter, a teenager with psychic abilities, in the Disney Channel Original Series That's So Raven; it became Disney Channel's highest-rated and longest-running series and spawned successful product spinoffs, including soundtracks (featuring songs by Raven), episode DVDs, and video games. In 2005, the show was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Children's Program". In 2003, Raven was featured on The Cheetah Girls and its popular soundtrack. Recently, she has starred its sequel, The Cheetah Girls 2, Disney Channel's second most-viewed and second highest-rated film to date after Jump In!. Raven was set to star in a movie named Double Dutch, but the movie was later revamped into Jump In!. Raven currently has her own production company, That's So Productions, which co-produced the entire fourth (and final) season of That's So Raven. In the late '90s, she co-owned RayBlaize Records with her father. However, they sold the company in the early 2000s.

Raven was featured on the March 2007 issue of Ebony Magazine with the title "The $400 Million Dollar Woman" referring to the $400 million that the That's So Raven merchandise made.

Today, Raven stands as a six-time NAACP Image Award winning actress and a two time Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards winning actress. Raven's wins do not include the many wins her show, That's So Raven, has won as well.

Raven was also one of the many singers who audtioned for the sought-after role of Effie in Dreamgirls.

Raven is teaming with Martin Lawerence to star in the film College Road Trip for Walt Disney Pictures. Roger Kumble is directing the comedy, being produced by Andrew Gunn and his Gunn Films.

The story centers on a young woman with ambitious public-defender dreams who goes on a road trip to visit potential universities with her father, an overprotective cop.

Cinco Paul and partner Ken Daurio wrote the most recent draft. The movie was born out of the Disney Writers Program by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki. The filming will set out to late June or early July in Northeast. ^[1] Raven will also be starring in the planned Adventures in Babysitting remake with fellow Disney teen idol Miley Cyrus. The movie's script was be written by Tiffany Paulsen and production will begin on notice.^[2]

Music career

File:NewDreamsAlbum.jpg

Here's to New Dreams (1993)

Raven-Symoné's debut album, Here's to New Dreams, was released on June 22, 1993. It spawned two commercially released singles: "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" and "Raven Is the Flavor". "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" was Raven's most successful single, reaching number sixty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100, forty-seven on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, forty-three on the Hot Dance Singles Sales, and thirty-nine on the Rhythmic Top 40. Her record company, MCA Records, however, shortened her contract as a result of poor sales.^{[citation needed]}

On May 4, 1999, Raven released her second album, Undeniable. "With a Child's Heart" was the only commercially released single from the album. With no promotion at all, the album was a complete failure, selling just 10,000 copies in the U.S. to date. In 2000, MCA Records, her label, dropped her from their roster. The Undeniable album was bought up by TMG Records, who re-issued the album in November 14, 2006 under the title From Then Until. In early 2003, she signed a deal with Hollywood Records, which also features fellow Disney Channel stars Aly & AJ and Hilary Duff.

File:Thisismytime.jpg

This Is My Time (2004)

On September 21, 2004, she released her third album This Is My Time. The album spawned three Radio Disney hits: "Backflip", "Bump", and "Grazing in the Grass" (which was featured on the soundtrack to The Lion King 1½). The album debuted and peaked at number fifty-one on the Billboard 200 selling 19,000 copies in its first week of release, becoming her most successful album yet, however the album still did disappointingly. This Is My Time has sold just 235,000 copies in the U.S.

In 2006, Raven embarked on her first solo tour to promote the album. She is currently working on her fourth album; however, neither the title nor the track listing have been confirmed by Hollywood Records. The as-yet untitled 4th album is expected to be released towards the end of 2007. Rumors were it was to be called "Fly Like A Raven" but this has not been confirmed.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role
1994	The Little Rascals	Stymie's girlfriend
1998	Dr. Dolittle	Charisse Dolittle
2001	Dr. Dolittle 2	Charisse Dolittle
2003	The Cheetah Girls	Galleria Garibaldi
2003	Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time	Monique (present) (voice)
2004	Zenon: Z3	Nebula Wade
	The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	Asana
	Fat Albert	Danielle (voice)
2005	Kim Possible: So the Drama	Monique (voice)
2006	For One Night	Brianna McCallister
	Everyone's Hero	Marti
	The Cheetah Girls 2	Galleria Garibaldi
2008	College Road Trip	??
2008	Madagascar 2: The Lost Island	Fra the Leopard (voice)
2008	Further Adventures In Babysitting	Chris Parker
2008	The Cheetah Girls 3	Galleria Garibaldi

Television

Year	Title	Role	Episode
1989– 1992	The Cosby Show	Olivia Kendall	Seasons 6–8
1989	A Different World	Olivia Kendall	"Forever Hold Your Peace" (episode 5, season 3)
1990	The Muppets at Walt Disney World	Young girl	Television special
1992	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Claudia	"Vying for Attention" (episode 21, season 2)
1993	Blindsided	Singer
1993	Queen: The Story of an American Family	5-year-old Queen
1993– 1997	Hangin' with Mr. Cooper	Nicole Lee	Seasons 2–5
1995	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Goldilocks (voice)	"The Prince and the Pauper"
2001	My Wife and Kids	Charmaine	"Mom's Away (Part 1)" (episode 1, season 2) "Mom's Away (Part 2)" (episode 2, season 2)
2001	The Proud Family	Stephanie (voice)	"Seven Days of Kwanzaa" (episode 11, season 1)
2002– present	Kim Possible	Monique (voice)	19 + episodes
2003– 2007	That's So Raven	Raven Baxter	Lead character
2004	Fillmore!	Maryanne Greene (voice) Alexandria Quarry (voice)	"Code Name: Electric Haircut" (episode 9, season 2) "Field Trip of the Just (2004)" (episode 12, season 2)
2005	Higglytown Heroes	Playground Monitor Hero (voice)	"Wayne's Ripping Adventure/Meet Eubie's Cousin" (episode 14, season 1)
2006	The Suite Life of Zack and Cody	Raven Baxter	"That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana" (episode 20, season 2)

Discography

Albums

Cover	Information
File:NewDreamsAlbum.jpg	Here's to New Dreams Released: June 22 1993 Chart positions: #67 AUS, #98 GER, #123 JPN U.S. certification: — U.S. sales: 73,000^[3]
	Undeniable/From Then Until Released: May 4 1999 Chart positions: #56 AUS, #34 JPN U.S. certification: — U.S. sales: 10,000^[3]
File:Thisismytime.jpg	This Is My Time Released: September 21 2004 Chart positions: #51 U.S., #50 U.S. R&B, #25 CAN, #5 CAN R&B U.S. certification: — U.S. sales: 235,000^[3]
no image avaible	TBA Released: TBA 2007 Chart positions: U.S. certification: — U.S. sales:

Singles

Year	Single	Album
1993	"That's What Little Girls Are Made Of"	Here's to New Dreams
1993	"Raven Is the Flavor"	Here's to New Dreams
1999	"With a Child's Heart"	Undeniable
2004	"Backflip"	This Is My Time
2005	"Bump"
2005	"Grazing in the Grass"

Awards and nominations

1990

Nominations

Young Artist Awards: "Outstanding Performance by an Actress Under Nine Years of Age 9" (The Cosby Show)

1991

Wins

Young Artist Awards: "Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress" (The Cosby Show)

1993

Nominations

Young Artist Awards: "Outstanding Actress Under Ten in a Television Series" (The Cosby Show)

1994

Nominations

Young Artist Awards: "Best Youth Comedienne" (Hangin' With Mr. Cooper)

1996

Nominations

NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress" (Hangin' With Mr. Cooper)

1999

Nominations

Young Star Awards: "Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Mini-Series/Made for TV Film" (Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century)

2004

Wins

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards: "Favorite TV Actress" (That's So Raven)

NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Series/Special (That's So Raven)

Nominations

BET Comedy Awards: "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series" (That's So Raven)

Teen Choice Awards: "Choice TV Actress - Comedy" (That's So Raven)

2005

Wins

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards: "Favorite TV Actress" (That's So Raven)

NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Series/Special" (That's So Raven)

Radio Disney Music Awards: "Best Actor/Actress-Turned-Singer"

Nominations

BET Comedy Awards: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - (That's So Raven)

Teen Choice Awards: Choice TV Actress - Comedy - (That's So Raven)

2006

Wins

NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Series/Special" (That's So Raven)

NAACP Image Awards: "Junior Achievment Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Series/Special"(That's So Raven)

Teen Choice Awards: "Choice TV Actress - Comedy" (That's So Raven)

Nominations

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards: "Favorite TV Actress" (That's So Raven)

2007

Wins

NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Series/Special" (That's So Raven)

NAMIC Awards: "2007 North Star Award" (Top Award)

Nominations

NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series" (That's So Raven)

Radio Disney Music Awards: "Favorite TV Star Who Sings"

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards: "Favorite TV Actress (That's So Raven)

References

^ http://www.movieweb.com/news/49/18449.php
^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117962325.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ask Billboard". Billboard. February 2 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.

[1] ttp://www.movieweb.com/news/49/18449.php

[2] ttp://www.variety.com/article/VR1117962325.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

[album_sales-3] "Ask Billboard". Billboard. February 2 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Raven-Symoné
Discography Awards and nominations Songs
Studio albums	Here's to New Dreams Undeniable This Is My Time Raven-Symoné
Compilation albums	From Then Until
Soundtrack albums	The Cheetah Girls That's So Raven That's So Raven Too! The Cheetah Girls 2
Singles	"That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" "With a Child's Heart" "Grazing in the Grass" "Backflip" "Double Dutch Bus"
Collaboration songs	"Cinderella" "Your Crowning Glory" "The Party's Just Begun" "Strut" "Step Up" "Amigas Cheetahs"
Related topics	The Cheetah Girls