{{Short description|American actress and singer}}
'''Arnetia Walker''' is an American actress and singer, active since 1971. She played Nurse Annie Roland in the NBC sitcom ''Nurses'' from 1991 to 1994.
==Life and career== Walker was born in Columbus, Georgia. She was very young when her mother died, and she never knew her father.<ref name=bio/> Walker later moved to New York City and attended New York's High School of Performing Arts.<ref name="dg">{{cite news |last1=Groves |first1=Seli |title=Arnetia Walker 'Nursing' Career At NBC |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-gleaner-arnetia-walker/174106756/ |access-date=June 8, 2025 |work=Daily Gleaner |date=January 11, 1992 |location=Canada, New Brunswick, York, Fredericton |page=50|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> She was cast in her Broadway debut, ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by Lorraine Hansberry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/arnetia-walker-77483|title=Arnetia Walker – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB|website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> She was Stephanie Mills's standby as Dorothy in the original Broadway run of ''The Wiz''. She starred in the first national touring company of ''Dreamgirls'' in the role of Lorrell Robinson in 1983. Walker would go on to perform in the show's second national and international touring companies and the 1987 Broadway revivial. She achieved the distinction of being the only woman to have played all three of that show's principal characters.<ref name=bio/>
In 1982, Walker made her big screen debut appearing in the comedy film ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas''.<ref name=bio/> She later appeared in films ''The Wizard of Speed and Time'' (1988), ''Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills'' (1989), and ''Love Crimes'' (1992). Her television films credits include ''Cast a Deadly Spell'' (1991), ''The Cherokee Kid'' (1996) and ''Geppetto'' (2000). In 1991, Walker was cast as one of leads alongside Stephanie Hodge, Mary Jo Keenen and Ada Maris in the NBC sitcom ''Nurses'', a spin-off of ''Empty Nest''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA35 |title=Jet|first=Johnson Publishing|last=Company|date=September 30, 1991|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> The series ran three season and 68 episodes. Walker also was a regular cast member in the short-lived sitcoms ''Singer & Sons'' (1990) and ''The Big House'' (2004). She guest starred in a number of shows, including ''Quantum Leap'', ''Living Single'', ''Midnight Caller'', ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', ''City of Angels'', ''Touched by an Angel'', ''Amen'' and ''NYPD Blue''. From 1999 to 2000, she had a recurring role in the WB comedy-drama series, ''Popular''. In 2008, she played the role of Grandma Clara in the comedy film ''College Road Trip''.
In 2017, she was cast in a recurring role of Luella Culhane in the CW prime time soap opera, ''Dynasty''.
==Personal life== She is married to television news anchor/reporter Elliott Francis, and they have one child, Trevor.<ref name=bio>{{Cite web|url=https://www.american.edu/ucm/news/20170711-arnetia-soc.cfm|title=Stages and Screens: Arnetia Walker's Fascinating Life | American University Washington D.C.|website=American University|date=11 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003180051/https://www.american.edu/ucm/news/20170711-arnetia-soc.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 3, 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0907535|name=Arnetia Walker}} *{{IBDB name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Arnetia}} Category:African-American actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Living people Category:Actresses from Columbus, Georgia Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century African-American women