Raven-Symoné Raven (real name: Christina Pearman-Maday) is a stage name for the multi-talented artist that performs under the name Raven. She’s been nominated for three Daytime Emmys and has won five NAACP Image Awards, two Kids’ Choice Awards, and three Young Artist Awards.
The Beginnings
Raven-Symoné was born to Lydia (Gaulden) and Christopher Pearman in Atlanta, Georgia. Blaize, her younger brother, is her sibling. She began her career as a model at the tender age of one, signing on with the Atlanta firm Young Faces Inc. She started modeling with Ford Models in New York when she was just two years old, and her early work includes commercials for Ritz crackers, Jell-O, Fisher-Price, and Cool Whip. When she was three, her family relocated to Ossining, New York, where she enrolled in Park School.
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What’s the Deal, Is Raven Symone a Lesbian?
Disney asked whether she wanted her character to be gay because she is queer and married to a woman in real life. The Disney version of her is a lesbian.
Career
In 1989, she joined “The Cosby Show” ensemble after Bill Cosby saw her try for a role in “Ghost Dad” opposite him. After playing Olivia for the show’s final two seasons, she became a household name. She went on to make several film and TV appearances, including a role as a young Halle Berry in “Queen: The Story of an American Family.”
At the tender age of seven, Raven began her professional singing career. She studied with Missy Elliot for two years after signing with MCA Records. Here’s to New Dreams,” Symone’s debut album, was published in 1993. Both of her Billboard Hot 100 singles flopped. She was sacked from the record label in 1995 because of poor sales. There were fewer than 100,000 copies of her album sold in the US.
Raven was cast as Nicole Lee on “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” later that year. She stayed through the series’ final episode in 1997. In the 1994 film “Little Rascals,” she played Stymie’s girlfriend, her first major film role. A total of $67.3 million was made from the film overseas. Raven’s second album, “Undeniable,” was released in May 1999 via RayBlaze Records, which she and her father had created in 1996. In the States, the record sold over 2,000 copies. In 1998 and 1999, she went on tour as the support act for ‘N Sync.
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The 1998 film “Dr. Doolittle,” in which Symone played a big role, was her second film to be released to the public. She was Eddie Murphy’s character’s eldest daughter in the film. The film made $294.5 million around the world. She returned for the sequel as well.
Symone tried out for a part in 2001 as a teenage girl with psychic skills for the Disney Channel. She was cast as the lead and made her Disney Channel debut in 2003 on the show “That’s So Raven.” In the end, the show was a smash hit for Disney Channel. After four seasons, the show produced a toy line, DVDs, and video games. Sales of “That’s So Raven” merch alone have reached $400 million around the world. This year, “That’s So Raven” was up for two Emmys.
After then, Symone became Kim Possible’s best friend Monique in an ongoing role in the Kim Possible series. Symone appeared in both films based on the series. Symone also had appearances in films based on the “Cheetah Girls” series.
Lifestyle Issues
She said it was “wonderful to know [she] may now, should [she] desire to,” as more states legalized lesbian marriage in August 2013. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in October 2014, she stated why she didn’t want to be labeled and why she didn’t identify as African-American or LGBT. Instead, she said, she was an “American” and a “person who loves humans.” For the 2016 Montreal Pride Parade, she will serve as Grand Marshal.
From 2012 till 2015, Raven-Symoné dated model and actress AzMarie Livingston. It was in June 2020 that she wed Miranda Maday, a social media manager.
She took a break from acting in 2013 to pursue an associate degree in visual arts at the Academy of Art University, which she earned in 2016. Returning to television in 2015 as a co-host on The View, she had previously been in retirement. She voted for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, in the 2016 presidential election.
