Jo Marie Payton

Jo Marie Payton (born August 3, 1950) is an American actress. She portrayed Harriette Baines Winslow on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters (1989–1997), a role she originated on its forerunner series Perfect Strangers. From 2001 to 2005, Payton provided the voice for Suga Mama Proud (Penny Proud's paternal grandmother) on Disney Channel's animated series The Proud Family and reprised the role in the 2005 television film The Proud Family Movie and also on Disney+'s revival The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. The role earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination in 2005. Payton also had a recurring role as the personal assistant to Gregory Hines' character, Ben Doucette (Will Truman's boss), during season two of Will & Grace (1999–2000).

Jo Marie Payton was born on August 3, 1950, in Albany, Georgia. Sometime during her early teens, her family relocated to Opa-locka, Florida. Payton attended high school at North Dade Jr./ Sr. High School and later graduated from Miami Carol City Senior High School in 1968. Continuing her education, Payton graduated from Albany State University. She then moved to California, where she joined the national touring company of the musical Purlie.

Payton's big break came when she was cast as Harriette Winslow, the elevator operator on the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers, in 1987. Her performance was so well received by audiences that she was given her own sitcom, Family Matters, in 1989. Continuing her character Harriette Winslow from Perfect Strangers, she played a mother in a middle-class black family living in Chicago, Illinois. Payton left Family Matters partway through its final season, appearing for the last time on December 19, 1997, during increasing tension between her and star Jaleel White (the two nearly came to blows and had to be physically separated during Payton's penultimate episode). Harriette Winslow was played by Judyann Elder in the show's remaining eight episodes.

In 2004, in an effort to help raise funds for Virginia Union University, Payton wrote letters to alumni urging them to donate money in amounts from $18.65 to $186,500, in honor of the university's founding date of 1865.

Until 1998, Payton was married to Rodney Noble.