{{short description|American actress}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | image = Rain Pryor at AJFF (24796504631).jpg | name = Rain Pryor | image_size = | caption = Pryor at the 2016 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|7|16}} | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Actress|comedian}} | years_active = 1988–present | spouse = {{Plainlist| *{{Marriage|Kevin Kindlin|2002|2006|end=div}} *{{Marriage|Yale Partlow|2007|2012|end=div}} *{{Marriage|David Vane|2018|}} }} | children = 1 | relatives = Ludacris (third cousin) | parents = {{plain list| * Richard Pryor * Shelley R. Bonus }}
}} '''Rain Pryor''' (born July 16, 1968)<ref>Henry, David; Henry, Joe (2013). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MT7tBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him]''. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. p. 92. {{ISBN|978-1-61620-078-7}}.</ref> is an American actress. Her television credits include sitcoms ''Head of the Class'' and ''Rude Awakening''. She is the daughter of comedian Richard Pryor.
==Early life== Pryor was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Shelley R. (née Bonus)<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/05/AR2006120501499.html| title=Time to Laugh, Time to Cry| first=Teresa| last=Wiltz| date=December 6, 2006| newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> and comedian Richard Pryor. Rain Pryor's mother was a Jewish go-go dancer and Rain was largely raised with her Jewish maternal grandparents, who taught her about Jewish culture.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.broadway.com/buzz/164415/rain-pryor-on-how-her-jewish-mother-and-genius-father-richard-inspired-her-solo-show-fried-chicken-and-latkes/| title=Rain Pryor on How Her Jewish Mother and 'Genius' Father Richard Inspired Her Solo Show Fried Chicken and Latkes| date=October 2, 2012| website=Broadway.com| first=Rain| last=Pryor}}</ref> Her award-winning solo show ''Fried Chicken and Latkes'' explores racism in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://journals.aol.com/bvnewswire/bv-entertainment-newswire-blog/entries/2006/11/01/rain-pryor-pouring-the-tea/542| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115120449/http://journals.aol.com/bvnewswire/bv-entertainment-newswire-blog/entries/2006/11/01/rain-pryor-pouring-the-tea/542| archive-date=January 15, 2007| title=Rain Pryor: Pouring The Tea| website=The BV Entertainment Newswire Blog| date=November 1, 2006| access-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> In regard to her background, Pryor has joked that while growing up she felt "proud, but guilty about it."<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.blackflix.com/articles/multiracial.html| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724011739/http://www.blackflix.com/articles/multiracial.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=July 24, 2012| title=Multiracial Celebrities| publisher=Blackflix.com| date=November 6, 1972| access-date=March 10, 2011}}</ref>
Pryor graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1986.<ref>{{Cite news |title=A PRYOR LIFE ; THE DAUGHTER OF THE LATE RICHARD PRYOR TALKS ABOUT HER ROLLER- COASTER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER FAMOUS FATHER_AND THE PEACE THEY FINALLY FOUND: [FINAL Edition] |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2006/11/13/a-pryor-life-2/ |date=November 13, 2006 |work=The Baltimore Sun |page=1C |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-date=March 10, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250310172907/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2006/11/13/a-pryor-life-2/ |quote=Rain Pryor — Age: 37. Birthplace: Los Angeles. Residence: Baltimore. Education: Beverly Hills High, graduated in 1987. Attended Santa Monica Community College and Los Angeles Community College, but left both schools for acting roles before graduating. |id={{ProQuest|406139152}}}}</ref>
==Career== She went on to star in the ABC series ''Head of the Class'' in the role of Theola June 'T.J.' Jones. Pryor's role was created from a series of characters she performed at her audition for the producers. Pryor starred for several years as Jackie, the lipstick-lesbian drug addict on the Showtime series ''Rude Awakening'', and has guest-starred on network television series such as ''The Division'' and ''Chicago Hope''. She has appeared numerous times on both ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' and ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', as well as ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'', and ''The Tavis Smiley Show''.
Pryor's stage credits include playing the title role of Billie Holiday in the UK tour of the ''Billie Holiday Story'' and the title role of Ella Fitzgerald in the UK premiere of ''Ella, Meet Marilyn''. She performed in the Los Angeles productions of Eve Ensler's ''The Vagina Monologues'' with Nora Dunn (of ''Saturday Night Live'' fame) and Charlene Tilton; ''Joan'' by Linda Chambers, in which she portrayed Joan of Arc; ''Cookin' With Gas,'' with the Groundlings improvisation troupe; ''The Exonerated'' with critically acclaimed actor Aidan Quinn; and ''The Who's Tommy'' at the La Jolla Playhouse.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://rainpryor.com |title=Rain Pryor & Mixed Rain Productions Inc - Home| website=Rainpryor.com| access-date=March 10, 2011}}</ref>
Pryor has also performed as a jazz/blues vocalist since 1993, having played to sold-out crowds in Los Angeles, DC, Hong Kong, Scotland and London, where she released a performance CD, ''Rain Pryor Live in London''.
Pryor created and toured in the award-winning show based on her life, ''Fried Chicken and Latkes'', in 2004 and 2005. She appeared in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006.
In 2012, Pryor was named the artistic director of Baltimore's Strand Theater.<ref>Smith, Tim (February 12, 2012). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/252615624/?clipping_id=162058039 "A Woman's Touch: The daughter of comic legend Richard Pryor is ready to lead the female-focused Strand Theater"]. ''The Baltimore Sun''. p. E1. Retrieved January 1, 2025.</ref>
In 2015, Pryor received the inaugural British Urban Film Festival honorary award from Ellen Thomas on behalf of her father for his outstanding contribution to film and television. The festival also screened the UK premiere of ''That Daughter's Crazy'', a documentary about her life living in the spotlight of her famous father.
In August 2019, Pryor announced that she would run for the 3rd district of the Baltimore City Council as a Democrat in 2020, challenging incumbent Ryan Dorsey.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kurtz |first1=Josh |title=Rain Pryor, Daughter of Famed Comedian, Kicking Off City Council Bid |url=https://marylandmatters.org/2019/08/30/rain-pryor-daughter-of-famed-comedian-kicking-off-city-council-bid/ |access-date=February 5, 2026 |work=Maryland Matters |date=August 30, 2019}}</ref> Pryor was defeated by Dorsey in the Democratic primary election, placing second with 36.1% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web |title=Official 2020 Presidential Primary Election results for Baltimore City |url=https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2020/results/primary/gen_results_2020_3_by_county_030.html |website=elections.maryland.gov |publisher=Maryland State Board of Elections |access-date=February 5, 2026 |date=July 2, 2020}}</ref>
==Author== ReganBooks published her memoir ''Jokes My Father Never Taught Me'' in 2006.<ref name="wiltz">Wiltz, Teresa (December 31, 2006). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle/162055751/ "Laughter and Tears: Richard Pryor's Daughter Describes the Peaks and Valleys of Growing Up With Her Complex Dad; 'Jokes My Father Never Taught Me — Author: Rain Pryor. Publisher: ReganBooks. Pages: 224. Price: $24.95.'"]. ''Rochester Democrat and Chronicle''. p. 7C. Retrieved January 1, 2025. "Pryor moved to Charm City a few months ago, to be closer to friends but also to flee the city of her birth, Los Angeles. Too much history, she says. In Los Angeles, she also left behind a home and a husband, separating after four years of marriage."</ref>
==Personal life== In 2002, Pryor married family therapist Kevin Kindlin;<ref>{{Cite news|title=Generation next|author=|date=February 4, 2002|work=Us Weekly|pages=50–54|quote=Even though Pryor and her father, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, now have a friendly relationship, she says she will happily shed his name in September, when she weds drug counselor Kevin Kindlin, 37. 'I can't wait to be Mrs. Kevin Kindlin,' she says, because I won't have to be Rain Pryor anymore.'|id={{ProQuest|236514806}}}}</ref> they divorced in 2006.<ref name="wiltz"/>
In 2007, she began dating Yale Partlow, a Baltimore nursing student/meditation teacher<ref name="Big">{{cite news| last1=Vozzella| first1=Laura| title=Big girls find a home here| url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2008-06-01-0806010005-story.html| newspaper=The Baltimore Sun| access-date=October 19, 2021| date=June 1, 2008| url-access=subscription}}</ref> who later became a police officer.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/rain-pryor-drought-buster-for-baltimores-strand-theater/2012/09/20/47b5e94a-fc30-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html| title=Rain Pryor: Drought buster for Baltimore's Strand Theater?| first=Nelson| last=Pressley| date=September 20, 2012| newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> After many miscarriages,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/rain-pryor-21093215?page=1 |title=Rain Pryor - Activist, Comedian, Actress |website=Biography.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720022421/http://www.biography.com/people/rain-pryor-21093215?page=1 |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |quote=Though Rain dealt with multiple miscarriages, the couple had a daughter, Lotus Marie, on April 1, 2008.}}</ref> she gave birth to their daughter in 2008.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://blackcelebritykids.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/rain-pryor-pregnant-with-first-baby/| title=Rain Pryor Pregnant with First Baby| website=Black Celebrity Kids| date=February 5, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2008/04/17/rain-pryor-welcomes-baby-lotus-marie/| title=Rain Pryor Welcomes Baby Lotus Marie| website=Black Celebrity Kids| date=August 7, 2008| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107182729/http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2008/04/17/rain-pryor-welcomes-baby-lotus-marie/| archive-date=January 7, 2010| access-date=October 1, 2022}}</ref> Partlow and Pryor divorced in 2014. Pryor currently{{as of?|date= March 2025}} lives in Baltimore with daughter and husband, Dave Vane.<ref name="Big"/>
==Awards and nominations== * 2015 British Urban Film Festival honorary award (recipient) – on behalf of Richard Pryor (posthumously) * 2008 Marin Services For Women Founders Award (recipient) * 2007 NAACP Image Award, Best New Author Biography (nomination) – ''Jokes My Father Never Taught Me, Life, Love & Loss with Richard Pryor'' * 2007 African American Literary Awards (nomination) – ''Jokes My Father Never Taught Me:Life, Love & Loss with Richard Pryor'' * 2005 NAACP Theatre Award, Best Female Performer Equity (recipient) – ''Fried Chicken & Latkes'' * 2005 NAACP Best Original Playwright Equity (nominated) – ''Fried Chicken & Latkes'' * 2005 Invisible Theatre's Goldie Klein Guest Artist Award (recipient) – ''Fried Chicken & Latkes'' * 2004 Los Angeles Ovation Awards, Best Solo Performance (nominated)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb name|699428}} [https://www.instagram.com/rainpryor?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== Rain Pryor on Instagram]
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Category:1969 births Category:African-American actresses Category:American film actresses Category:African-American Jews Rain Category:Jewish American actresses Category:Jewish American comedians Category:Living people Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Los Angeles Category:Actresses from Baltimore Category:Richard Pryor Category:Jewish women comedians Category:Comedians from Los Angeles Category:African-American women comedians Category:African-American comedians Category:American women comedians Category:Maryland Democrats