She graduated from Howard University and used her experiences from attending an historically Black College to inform her production and direction of the TV show "A Different World" (1987). She, her sister Phylicia Rashad, brother Tex and their mother spent over a year in Mexico when they were young. Her mother made the decision to go there to give her children a brief experience of not having to endure the chronic racism and segregation that was typical of Texas during Debbie's childhood. As a result of this experience, Debbie and her sister Phylicia are fluent in Spanish. Although her parents divorced, Debbie remained extremely close to her father, Arthur Allen, until his death. She and her sister had a production company called "D.A.D." which stood for "Doctor Allen's Daughters". Her Pulitzer-nominated poet mother is, however, the artistic and free spirit that has influenced and encouraged the remarkable creativity that so marks Allen as a performer. Her daughter, Vivian, was named for Debbie's mother, Vivian Ayers-Allen.
http://www.series-80.net/us/actor/biograph...bbie-allen.html
Debbie Allen
6 Sep 2007, 01:08
