Khandi Alexander

Khandi Alexander (born September 4, 1957) is an American dancer, choreographer, and actress. She began her career as dancer in 1980s and was a choreographer for Whitney Houston's world tour from 1988–1992. During 1990s, Alexander has appeared in a number of films, include CB4 (1993), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Sugar Hill (1994), and There's Something About Mary (1998). She starred as Catherine Duke in NBC sitcom NewsRadio from 1995 to 1998. She also had a major recurring role in NBC medical drama ER (1995-2001) as Jackie Robbins, sister to Dr. Peter Benton. Alexander also received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the HBO miniseries The Corner in 2000. From 2002 to 2009, Alexander starred as Dr. Alexx Woods in the CBS police procedural series CSI: Miami. From 2010 to 2013 she starred as LaDonna Batiste-Williams in HBO drama Treme. Later in 2013, she joined the cast of ABC drama Scandal as Maya Lewis, Olivia Pope's mother, for which in 2015 she received Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Alexander also received Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for playing Bessie Smith's sister in the 2015 HBO film Bessie.