Thea Vidale

Widely recognized for playing Thea Armstrong-Turrell in Thea, Thea R. Vidale is an American actress and stand-up comedian. She is also known as the first Afro-American to have a television series named after her. Vidale is also popular for Ugly Betty and Whoopi. 

Born Into A Military Family

Thea R. Vidale was born on 20th November 1956 in Washington, D.C. United States of America. She was born into a military family alongside her three sisters. 

Her family moved to Victoria, Texas when she was 12 years old. There she enrolled at Victoria High School graduating in 1975 or 1976. 

What Is Her Net Worth?

Vidale has been working in the entertainment industry for over 3 decades. According to Celebrity Net Worth, she is worth around $2 million as of early 2021. 

Most of her fortunes comes form her successful career as an actress and comedian. 

When Did She Begin Her Comedy Career?

Following her high school graduation, Vidale worked as a waitress in Pasadena, Texas. Her friends encouraged her to be a comedian and began performing at amateur stand-up comedy nights in Houston. 

She eventually began appearing in the cable comedy special Rodney Dangerfield: Opening Night at Rodney's Place on HBO in 1989. 

She also performed on Late Night With David Letterman and toured internationally. 

Vidale made her career breakthrough from the 1993 ABC sitcom Thea. In the series, she played the title role alongside Adam Jeffries, Brandy Norwood, Jason Weaver, and Cleavant Derricks. 

Although the show was short-lived, it was ranked near 50 out of approximately 75 shows in the weekly Nielsen ratings. Likewise, Vidale was nominated for a People's Choice Award for Favorite Female in a New Series. 

Thea has performed on numerous sitcoms including The Wayans Bros., The Drew Carey Show, Ellen, and My Wife and Kids. 

In 2006, she appeared as the mother of wrestler Shelton Benjamin on WWE. During her time in WWE, she was involved in several backstage skits resulting in challenging wrestlers to matches on Shelton's behalf. This led Shelton break his losing streak as he won the majority of these matches. 

Vidale served as co-host for both 2005 and 2009 AVN Awards. 

Mother Of Four

65-year-old comedian cum actress was married to a man named Bill. Though the couple shares four children together, their marital life was not so smooth. 

She has often spoken about her troubled marriage and physical abuse she suffered from her husband.

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