Celebrity Nooz: Berlinda Tolbert

Berlinda Tolbert (Actress) - The Jeffersons

Updated: 8/25/21

Name: Berlinda Tolbert

Birth Name: Berlinda Tolbert

Born: November 4, 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Claim To Fame: Berlinda Tolbert is an American film and television actress best known for her role as Jenny Willis Jefferson, the daughter of Tom and Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, which originally aired from 1975 until 1985.

Family Life: Tolbert married journalist Bob Reid in 1979.

Info: Tolbert majored in theater at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

She also studied drama in London.

Married her journalist husband Bob Reid on Valentine Day 1979 after just 11 days of dating.

Trivia: She got her first film part from Martin Scorsese in Mean Streets in 1973, when she was in acting school.

On The Jeffersons, Tolbert played Jenny, the daughter of interracial couple Tom and Helen Willis, friends of George and Louise Jefferson.

During the series, Jenny became engaged to Lionel Jefferson, the son of George and Louise; they married and had a daughter.

Tolbert played the role of Jenny for the run of the series, from 1975-1985.

Tolbert was born just one day after Mike Evans (1949-2006), the original actor who played her boyfriend/husband Lionel. They were also both born in North Carolina.

Following the cancellation of The Jeffersons in 1985, Tolbert appeared in films including Harlem Nights, Goodfellas, and Patriot Games, and television shows including ER, Six Feet Under, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

In 1983, Tolbert starred in the Maya Angelou play On A Southern Journey.

Where Are They Now: Tolbert took a break from acting to care for her ailing parents. Since then she has not officially retired, nor restarted her acting career. It would be wonderful to see Tolbert again on the screen; maybe in a Jefferson's reboot.

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