Dr. Tonea Stewart is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress and University

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 best known for her role as Aunt Etta on the television series In the Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night (TV series)

In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...

.

Stewart was born in Greenwood

Greenwood, Mississippi

Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta approximately 96 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi, and 130 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. The population was 15,205 at the 2010 census. It is the...

, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, the daughter of Hattie Juanita and Thomas Harris. She has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies. Taught at Jackson State University for 20 years, where she was crowned Ms. JSU in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...

, earned her Ph D. from Florida State University

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 in 1989, and she taught Speech at Jackson State University

Jackson State University

Jackson State University is a historically black university founded in 1877 in Natchez, MS by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. The Society moved the school to Jackson in 1882, renaming it Jackson College, and developed its present campus in 1902. It became a state supported...

 before she became the Director of Theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 Arts

ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 at Alabama State University

Alabama State University

Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...

. She narrated the acclaimed Remembering Slavery radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 program. In 2009, Dr. Stewart was named Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Alabama State University.Dr. Stewart is a member of Zeta Phi Beta

Zeta Phi Beta

Zeta Phi Beta is an international, historically black Greek-lettered sorority and a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.Zeta Phi Beta is organized into 800+ chapters, in eight intercontinental regions including the USA, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean...

 sorority

Television

Guest Starring Roles

• Walker, Texas Ranger "Rise to the Occasion" (1999) as Principal Rivers
• Walker, Texas Ranger "The Trial of LaRue" (1997) as Judge Loretta Paxton
• Memphis Beat
  Memphis Beat
  Memphis Beat is an American drama series that debuted on TNT on June 22, 2010 and ended on August 16, 2011. Memphis Beat was officially canceled on October 14, 2011.-Overview:...
  
  "I Want to be Free" as Miss Angelina
• Matlock
  Matlock (TV series)
  Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
  
  "The Juror" (1993) as Henrietta Dorsey

Starring Roles

• In the Heat of the Night
  In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
  In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
  
  (1988) as Aunt Etta

Film

• "Mississippi Damned
  Mississippi Damned
  Mississippi Damned is an American drama film directed by Tina Mabry. The drama features Adam Clark, Malcolm Goodwin and Michael Hyat...
  
  " (2009) - Alice
• A Time to Kill (1996) - Gwen Hailey
• Mississippi Burning (1988) - Mrs. Walker
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979) as Lillie (credited as Tommie Stewart)
• Roll of Thunder, Hear Me Cry (1978) as Mrs. Avery (credited as Tommie Stewart)
• Nightmare in Badham County (1976) - Alma (credited as Tommie Stewart)

External links