Mariann Aalda

Mariann Aalda (born May 7, 1948) is an American television, stage, film actress, performance artist and standup comic.

She is best known for her work in television as DiDi Bannister on ABC's Edge of Night, the distaff half of Calvin & DiDi, one of the first African-American soap opera super couples (1981-84). She also had regular roles on the CBS sitcom The Royal Family, as the daughter of Redd Foxx and Della Reese, and the HBO series 1st & Ten, as the wife of O.J. Simpson's character.

Aalda also achieved notoriety recurring on the CBS sitcom, Designing Women, as Anthony's yuppie-from-hell girlfriend, Lita Ford, and on the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach as the tragically disfigured Lena Hart. Additionally, she co-hosted the lifestyle show Designs for Living on the USA Network and was a reporter for the magazine show NOW! on WNBC in New York. Her numerous guest-star roles are mostly sitcom.

Aalda has also appeared in movies, co-starring in the urban cult film Class Act as rapper Kid's clueless mom, and as Coach Harrison in Nobody's Perfect. She was also a featured player in Beaches and Pretty Woman, directed by Garry Marshall

An avowed Age Disruptor, she is passionate about changing the paradigm of women and aging and outdated stereotypes. After more than 30 years in network television, she countered ageism and diminishing TV roles with a return to the stage and her theater roots as a standup comic and with her performance art character, Adult Sex-Ed Evangelist & Mojo Motivator Ginger Peechee-Keane. She also produced and stars in the improv comedy web series, Talk To Me, Ginger! based on that character.

A uterine cancer survivor, Aalda is also an activist for greater awareness in the silent symptoms of gynecological cancer, addressing her own experience in her comedy.

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