Tichina Arnold

Tichina Arnold is an American actress whose career spans four decades, beginning as a teen performer in the mid‑1980s and evolving into a versatile presence on both the big and small screens. Born on June 28, 1969 in Queens, New York City to a working‑class family—her mother Diane worked as a sanitation worker and her father Gene was a police officer—she nurtured her talents at the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she honed the skills that would launch her into Hollywood. Arnold’s early film credits include a memorable turn as Crystal, one of the chorus girls in Frank Oz’s 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors, followed by supporting roles in How I Got into College (1989) and the cult classic Scenes from a Mall (1991). Her breakthrough on television arrived in 1992 when she was cast as Pamela “Pam” James on the Fox sitcom Martin, a role that cemented her place in comedy and earned her a devoted fan base; she remained on the show until its conclusion in 1997. Beyond Martin, Arnold displayed her range as the matriarch Rochelle on Everybody Hates Chris (2005‑2009) and later as Cassie Calloway on Survivor’s Remorse (2014‑2017), while also delivering strong dramatic performances such as the title role in The Lena Baker Story (2008). In recent years she has continued to delight audiences as Tina Butler in CBS’s The Neighborhood and as Paulette in South Africa’s series Lockdown, proving her adaptability across genres and international markets. Outside of acting, Arnold launched a designer headgear line called “China Moon Rags” in 1998, creating Swarovski‑embellished bandanas for celebrities, and co‑founded the We Win Foundation in 2013 to support lupus research, demonstrating her commitment to entrepreneurship and philanthropy.