The Cast of 'Moesha': Where Are They Now?

Long before she was Cinderella or sassily confirming that the boy was, indeed, hers, she was Moesha. In January 1996, UPN debuted the beloved sitcom Moesha starring Brandy Norwood as the titular teen as she navigated life in Los Angeles alongside widower father Frank (William Allen Young), pesky younger brother Myles (Marcus T. Paulk) and stepmother Dee (Sheryl Lee Ralph), who also just happens to be her high school vice principal.

Though initially declined by CBS, the coming-of-age comedy was picked up by UPN as a mid-season replacement and ended up being one of the greatest successes in the network’s history, earning several NAACP Image Awards over the course of its six-season run and helping to turn Brandy into a bonafide Hollywood star. It spawned a successful spinoff, The Parkers, around Moesha’s boy-crazy BFF Kim Parker (played by Countess Vaughn) and as well as a TV universe that includes series like Girlfriends and The Game.

Nowadays, Brandy is better known as a critically acclaimed R&B singer but nearly 20 years after Moesha, she’s back in the acting spotlight as the lead of the upcoming A24 movie The Front Room, a psychological thriller directed by the Eggers Brothers that hit theaters on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

To celebrate that film’s release and the return of Brandy Norwood to our screens, let’s catch up with the entire Moesha cast and what they’ve been up to since the sitcom ended in May 2001, from Norwood herself to co-stars Marcus T. Paulk, Lamont Bentley, Yvette Wilson and more.

Where is the Cast Of Moesha now?

Brandy Norwood (Moesha Denise "Mo" Mitchell)

In the two decades since Moesha has been off the air, Brandy has remained in the spotlight through both her music and acting careers. She has released eight studio albums in total and has sold more than 40 million records worldwide, garnering three Grammy awards in her post-Moesha years. In November 2016, Norwood became the second recipient of the Lady of Soul Award at the Soul Train Music Awards, after Jill Scott.

Brandy has appeared on several television shows, both as herself in reality series—as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, an original judge on America’s Got Talent and one-half of Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business—as well as lead actress in shows like the Girlfriends spinoff The Game, the BET sitcom Zoe Ever After and the ABC musical drama Queens. She also made her Broadway debut in 2015 as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago.

In July 2024, Norwood reprised her iconic role as Cinderella in Descendants: The Rise of Red, which was released on Disney+. This September, you’ll also see the actress in the cast of A24’s upcoming psychological thriller The Front Room from directors Max and Sam Eggers.

Related: From Moesha to 'The Boy Is Mine,' Here's How Brandy Earned Her Net Worth

William Allen Young (Franklin "Frank" Mitchell)

William Allen Young has played many roles since he said goodbye to Moesha’s tough-but-loving pop Frank Mitchell. In fact, he’s appeared in more than 100 film, television and stage projects across his four-decade career.

Since the UPN series ended in 2001, Young has turned up in movies like Fear X and District 9 as well as TV series like Any Day Now, Code Black, Good Luck Charlie and 9-1-1: Lone Star. The now-70-year-old actor even got to have a sweet reunion with his TV daughter Brandy Norwood in The Game, playing Colonel Westbrook in a Season 6 episode entitled “The Blueprint.”

Outside of acting professionally, Young also is the founder of the Young Center for Academic & Cultural Enrichment, an LA-based nonprofit organization “that educates and empowers young people with critical knowledge and skills needed to achieve success in college, business and life,” per the org’s website.

Countess Vaughn (Kimberly Ann "Kim" Parker)

Diehard Moesha fans will definitely know what happened to the character Kim Parker and the actor Countess Vaughn after the series—that’s because Vaughn’s character continued on in the show’s spin-off The Parkers, which also starred actress-comedian Mo’Nique and ran from 1999 until 2004 on UPN. (Fun fact: Vaughn even sang The Parkers’ theme song!)

Aside from guest appearances in series like Cuts and Let’s Stay Together, Vaughn has been more prolific on the reality TV end of things: from the mid-2000s through the 2010s, she appeared in VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, MTV’s Celebrity Rap Superstar and TV One’s Hollywood Divas.

On a personal level, Vaughn married Joseph Jones in January 2002; they had a son before divorcing in 2005. She also shares a daughter, born in 2009, with ex-fiancé David Whitten.

Marcus T. Paulk (Myles Mitchell)

Best known for playing Moesha’s prank-playing little brother Myles, Marcus T. Paulk has continued to act and make music since his child-star days. Now 37, the LA native appeared in several films throughout the mid-2000s and 2010s, including Roll Bounce alongside Bow Wow, Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas, Red Tails featuring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr., and SisterCode with Amber Rose. He is reportedly currently working on a studio album.

Lamont Bentley (Hakeem Campbell)

Alongside his role as Moesha’s forever-hungry friend Hakeem Campbell, actor-rapper Lamont Bentley was known for his role as Crazy K in the 1995 horror film Tales from the Hood and C-Money in the 2001 film The Wash featuring Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. One of his last screen appearances was in Spike Lee's crime drama Sucker Free City in 2004. Sadly, he died in January 2005 after succumbing to injuries from a single-car accident in California’s Ventura County. He was 31.

Yvette Wilson (Andalusia Louise "Andell" Wilkerson)

In Moesha, Yvette Wilson played Andell, the owner of the neighborhood hangout The Den that Mo and her friends regularly frequented. The character and actress also featured in Moesha’s spinoff The Parkers, as the best friend of Mo'Nique's Nikki. Shortly after both sitcoms ended, Wilson appeared in her final acting role in the 2005 indie comedy Ganked. She passed away in June 2012 at age 48 due to cervical cancer. She is survived by her record-producer husband Jerome Harry.

Sheryl Lee Ralph (Deidre "Dee" Mitchell)

Anyone who has turned on a television set since 2021 no doubt knows what Sheryl Lee Ralph has been up to since Moesha ended. The actress has been portraying fan favorite Barbara Howard in the hit ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary, a role that earned the performer a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, becoming the first Black woman in 35 years to win in that category.

Outside of Abbott Elementary, Ralph—who garnered five NAACP Award nominations for her role as Moesha’s stepmother Dee Mitchell in the UPN sitcom—has kept busy across both stage and screen. She has appeared on Broadway as Muzzy Van Hossmere in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Madame Morrible in Wicked, was in the main cast of TV series including Instant Mom, One Love and Fam, and popped up in films such as Just Getting Started, The Comeback Trail and, most recently, The Fabulous Four opposite Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon and Megan Mullally.

In October 2022, Ralph was presented with the Order of Jamaica by the governor-general for her contribution to the national film industry.

Related: Sheryl Lee Ralph Gets Nostalgic With Throwback Moesha Photos on 27th Anniversary

Shar Jackson (Denise "Niecy" Jackson)

After portraying Mo’s bestie Niecy through six years of Moesha, actress-singer Shar Jackson continued her television career in series like The Parkers, The Bernie Mac Show, Proud Family and Everybody Hates Chris. On the big screen, she has featured in films like Steppin: The Movie, The House That Jack Built, Reboot Camp and, most recently, Good Burger 2. She was also a member of the pop girl group Mpulz until it disbanded in 2002, and was crowned the winner of the MTV reality Celebrity Rap Superstar in 2007.

Personally, Jackson’s star rose when she was romantically involved with professional dancer Kevin Federline in the early 2000s; they share a daughter and a son. The couple’s split in 2004 was allegedly instigated by Federline entering a relationship with pop icon Britney Spears, with whom he had a three-year marriage and two children.

Fredro Starr (Quinton "Q" Brooks)

Better known by his stage name Fredro Starr, rapper-actor Fred Lee Scruggs Jr. played Moesha’s boyfriend and later fiancé Q. As a screen performer, he has starred in more than 55 movies and television shows, including Spike Lee's Clockers, Sunset Park, Ride, Light It Up, Torque and Save the Last Dance. (He also performed the latter film’s theme song, “Shining Through,” with Jill Scott.)

As both a solo artist and member of the hardcore rap group Onyx, Starr’s music career has also been steadily chugging along over the decades, with the rapper releasing four studio albums and a compilation album, 2021’s Soul on Fire.

Ray J (Dorian Long)

Ray J Norwood is, of course, Brandy’s real-life brother and a fellow singer and actor in his own right. After shockingly joining Moesha’s fifth season as Mo’s half-brother Dorian, Ray J continued his music career with five studio albums total, the most recent being 2022’s Raydemption.

However, controversially, Ray J is arguably best known as Kim Kardashian’s ex and appeared alongside his former girlfriend in the 2003 leaked sex tape that made Kardashian a household name.

Norwood parlayed that notoriety into a long reality TV career, including his own VH1 dating show For the Love of Ray J and the VH1 reality series Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business alongside his famous sibling and their parents. Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, he has appeared as himself in reality franchises including Bad Girls Club, Celebrity Big Brother and Love & Hip Hop, among others. He most recently popped up in John Mulaney’s 2024 Netflix talk show, John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA.

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