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Keshia Knight Pulliam : Role: Rudy Huxtable
Birthday : 9th April 1979
Birthplace : Newark, New Jersey, USA
Recent Role : Herself on Today
Height : 5′ 0½” (1.54 m)
Gender : Female

Keshia Knight Pulliam was born as the eldest of the four children of Denise and James Pulliam Sr. She was the only daughter of the family as all her three siblings are boys. Her father, worked as a manager.

Keshia studied at the Rutgers Preparatory School which is located in Somerset, in New Jersey. Later, after her family shifted to Virginia, she attended the Potomac School located in McLean, in Virginia and then continued her studies at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia. She graduated from Spelman College in 2001, from where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.

Keshia was placed at number 19 in the “100 Greatest Kid Stars” list of VH1. In 2005, she secured the 11th position on the 50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up on an E! Television special, which she had co-hosted with Candace Cameron Bure. Keshia also emerged as the winner on a celebrity edition of the Weakest Link and Fear Factor (2003).

Although Keshia is best known for her role of Rudy on The Cosby Show, she actually started acting when she was only 3 years old. At that time she portrayed the role of Keshia on Sesame Street. Since then she has appeared in numerous other TV shows, most prominent amongst which are A Different World, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Polly: Comin’ Home!, What About Your Friends: Weekend Getaway, Christmas at Water’s Edge and House of Payne etc.

Besides proving her acting caliber on the small screen, Keshia has also won over the audiences of the big screen with her magnetic performances. She has made impressing appearances in the movies The Last Dragon, Motives, Beauty Shop, The Gospel, Cuttin Da Mustard, Death Toll and Madea Goes to Jail. In addition, she has also performed in the soundtrack of The Cosby Show.

Keshia earned the distinction of being the youngest actress who has ever been nominated for an Emmy Award. She was only six years old in 1986, when she received the honor of being nominated under the category of Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Cosby Show. Besides that, she was also nominated for the Image Award in 2003, Vision Award of the NAMIC Vision Awards in 2009, TV Land Award in 2006 and Young Artist Award in 1985, 1987 and 1990.

In 1989, Keshia and her co-stars jointly won the Young Artist Award under the category of Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series or Special for their role in The Cosby Show. In 1988, she won the People’s Choice Award under the category of Favorite Young TV Performer. In 1991, Keshia won the Blimp Award at the Kid’s Choice Awards under the category of Favorite TV Actress for her role in The Cosby Show. Keshia has also won two Image Awards. In 1988, she won the award under the category of Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress for her work in The Cosby Show. In 2009, she won the award once again under the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in House of Payne.

Role In The Cosby Show

In The Cosby Show, Keshia plays the role of Rudy Huxtable. She is the fourth daughter and the youngest child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable. She was introduced in the show as a five year old child and as the show progressed she also matured. Her best friends, who made constant appearances during the run of the show, were Peter Chiara and Kenny. Although, the character was initially planned to be that of a boy, it was later re-written for a girl, since none of the boys who turned up for the auditions were found suitable for the role. The character was woven around Bill Cosby’s real life daughter Evin, who happened to be of the same age.