Actress Garcelle Beauvais

Garcelle Beauvais is yet another immigrant success story in America.

Born in Haiti in 1966, she and her family emigrated to the United States, where she grew up learning English by watching "Sesame Street."  She started out as a model - it shows, doesn't it? - and did ads for numerous cosmetics brands.  But she was able to make the transition to acting quite flawlessly thanks to, first a short-lived prime-time drama about the modeling profession ("Models Inc.", as Cynthia Nichols, a model with a troubled past and present) and then, Jamie Foxx.

Ms. Beauvais was cast in 1996 as Francesca "Fancy" Monroe on Foxx's namesake sitcom, in which he played an aspiring musician named Jamie King who works at his aunt's and uncle's hotel in Los Angeles; Fancy was the object of Jamie's romantic desires, which she resisted before giving in later on and dating him.  "The Jamie Foxx" had a respectable five-season run.

Ms. Beauvais continued her career without missing a beat, playing Assistant District Attorney Valerie Heywood on "NYPD Blue" from 2001 to 2004.  She appeared in several TV shows and movies after that, including the 2013 action/thriller film White House Down, which reunited her with Foxx; they played the First Couple of the United States.  Today, she has a recurring role as Veronica Garland, an overprotective stepmother based on Cinderella's stepmother, in the CBS All Access psychological fairy-tale parable series "Tell Me a Story."

Fun fact:  Garcelle Beauvais had a minor role in the 1988 Eddie Murphy movie Coming To America; she is appearing in the sequel planned for release later this year.