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Danitra Vance

Danitra Vance
Danitra Vance.jpg
Born (1954-07-13)July 13, 1954
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died August 21, 1994(1994-08-21) (aged 40)
Markham, Illinois, U.S.
Other names Dan Vance
Occupation Comedian, actress
Years active 1972–1994

Danitra Vance (July 13, 1954 – August 21, 1994) was an American comedian and actress best known as a cast member on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live during its eleventh season and for work in feature films like Sticky Fingers (1988), Limit Up (1990) and Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992).

Born in Chicago, Vance graduated from nearby Thornton Township High School in 1972. In high school she was active in theater and was a member of the debate team. She later attended Roosevelt University and graduated with honors. She then studied drama at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Vance was the first African American woman to become an SNL repertory player in 1985 (not to be confused with Yvonne Hudson from season six, who first appeared as a recurring extra for season four (1978-1979) and season five (1979-1980) and was hired as a feature player during Jean Doumanian's notoriously shaky 1981 season), the only SNL cast member to have a learning disability (Vance was dyslexic and, according to Al Franken in the book Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, she had trouble memorizing lines and reading cue cards, though this was not made apparent in most cases and, in one case, ad-libbing covered it up), was the first lesbian cast member hired (though her sexual orientation never became public knowledge until her death), and the only black lesbian cast member as of 2016. She is best remembered for the sketch "That Black Girl," (a spoof of the 1960s sitcom That Girl), and for her character Cabrini Green Harlem Watts Jackson, a teenage mother who dispensed advice on the dos and don'ts of being pregnant. Both were recurring characters during her time on SNL.


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