Personal life

Pryor was born in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, the daughter of Shelley R. Bonis and American comedian Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...

. Rain Pryor's mother was a Jewish go-go dancer and Rain was largely raised with her Jewish grandparents who taught her about Jewish culture. Her mother was urged by her family to put Rain up for adoption, rather than deal with bringing up a child "in a world that wasn’t ready for biracial children." Rain was rejected by the African Americans and the Jewish Americans in her life, thus creating a unique voice in her award winning solo show Fried Chicken and Latkes that explores racism in the late '60s and early '70s. In regard to her background, Pryor has joked that while growing up she felt "proud, but guilty about it."

Pryor graduated from Beverly Hills High School

Beverly Hills High School

Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...

 in 1987.

Career

She went on to star in the ABC series Head of the Class

Head of the Class

Head of the Class is an American sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program at the fictional Monroe High School in Manhattan, and their history teacher Charlie Moore...

in the role of Theola June 'T.J.' Jones. Pryor's role was created from a series of characters she performed at her audition for the producers. Pryor starred for several years as Jackie, the lipstick lesbian drug addict on the Showtime series Rude Awakening

Rude Awakening (TV series)

Rude Awakening is a TV series created by Claudia Lonow, aired by Showtime on 55 22-min episodes for 3 seasons .-Story:Rude Awakening tells the story of Billie Frank, an out of work alcoholic ex-soap opera actress. She tries to go sober and become a writer but continues to struggle with her...

and has guest starred on network television series such as The Division

The Division

The Division is an American Lifetime Television original series about a team of women police officers in the San Francisco Police Department. The series premiered on January 7, 2001 and ended on June 28, 2004 after 88 episodes.-Synopsis:...

and Chicago Hope

Chicago Hope

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...

. She has appeared numerous times on both The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....

 and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...

, as well as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...

, and Tavis Smiley.

Rain’s stage credits include playing the title role of Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

 in the UK tour of the Billie Holiday Story and the title role of Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

 in the UK premier of Ella, Meet Marilyn. She performed in the Los Angeles productions of Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...

's The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...

with Nora Dunn

Nora Dunn

Nora Eloise Dunn is an American actress and comedian, perhaps best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...

 of Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

 fame and Charlene Tilton

Charlene Tilton

Charlene L. Tilton is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Lucy Ewing in the television series Dallas.-Career:...

, Joan by Linda Chambers

Linda Chambers (playwright)

Linda Chambers is an American playwright, screenwriter, actress and college instructor living and working in Baltimore, Maryland.-Career:Linda Chambers first began serious writing after becoming involved with Corner Theatre ETC, an experimental theatre located in Baltimore...

, in which she portrayed Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...

; Cookin' With Gas, with the Groundlings improvisation troupe, The Exonerated with critically acclaimed actor Aidan Quinn

Aidan Quinn

-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

 and The Who's Tommy

The Who's Tommy

The Who's Tommy is a rock musical by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff based on The Who's 1969 double album rock opera Tommy, also by Pete Townshend, with additional material by John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Sonny Boy Williamson.-Productions:...

at the La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. -Background:...

.

Pryor, is also a Jazz/Blues vocalist since 1993, having played to sold-out crowds in Los Angeles, DC, Hong Kong, Scotland and London where she released a live Jazz/Blues performance CD Rain Pryor Live in London. Her live cabaret received four stars and was critically acclaimed "not to be missed."

Pryor created and toured in the award-winning show based on her life, Fried Chicken and Latkes in 2004 and 2005. She appeared in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006.

Awards and nominations

• 2008 Marin Services For Women Founders Award (recipient)
• 2007 NAACP Image Award, Best New Author Biography (nomination) - Jokes My Father Never Taught Me, Life, Love & Loss with Richard Pryor
• 2007 African American Literary Awards (nomination) - Jokes My Father Never Taught Me:Life, Love & Loss with Richard Pryor
• 2005 NAACP Theatre Award, Best Female Performer Equity (recipient) - Fried Chicken & Latkes
• 2005 NAACP Best Original Playwright Equity (nominated) - Fried Chicken & Latkes
• 2005 Invisible Theatre's Goldie Klein Guest Artist Award (recipient) - Fried Chicken & Latkes
• 2004 Los Angeles Ovation Awards, Best Solo Performance (nominated)

External links