Debbi Morgan

A petite, attractive and commanding black actress, Debbi Morgan has long been known to fans of daytime dramas but it took her galvanizing performance as Mozelle, the psychic aunt of the child heroine of "Eve's Bayou" (1997) for film critics and audiences to take notice. Born in North Carolina but raised in the South Bronx, she began acting in high school productions. Morgan began working with both the Negro Ensemble Company and the New Federal Theatre in NYC and appeared in the Broadway production of "What the Wine Sellers Buy" in 1974. Her stage success led to her film debut as one of the slaves in the dreadful "Mandingo" (1975). Morgan found more or less steady work as a guest player on TV shows, including playing recurring roles on "Good Times" and "What's Happening!." In the 1979 ABC miniseries "Roots: The Next Generation," she was cast as Alex Haley's aunt Elizabeth. In her first regular series role on the CBS drama "Behind the Screen," Morgan was cast as an aspiring soap opera actress. Ironically, she would garner the most steady work of her career in that genre.