Victoria Dillard (born September 20, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her co-starring role as Janelle Cooper in the ABC sitcom Spin City.
Dillard was born in New York, New York. She began performing at the age of five with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She worked with the company until she was eighteen, appearing in such productions as " Porgy and Bess " at the Metropolitan Opera. Then she went on tour with Mickey Rooney in " A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ". When the run ended in California, she was cast in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation playing a crew member, which earned her her union card.
Dillard was in Playboy (November 1988, Vol. 35, Iss. 11, pg. 132-133, by: Bruce Williamson) in the article Sex In Cinema 1988. Next she performed in George Schlatter's new version of "Laugh-In" as the Goldie Hawn character. In 1988 she was a bather/dancer opposite James Earl Jones and Eddie Murphy in her first feature film, Coming to America.
In addition to the 1997 TV movie The Ditchdigger's Daughters, her other television credits include:
Victoria's movie credits include Deep Cover, Murder in Mississippi, The Glass Shield, Internal Affairs, Albert and Out of Sync. Victoria's most memorable professional role to date may be as the wife of Denzel Washington's character in the 1991 movie Ricochet. About Denzel, she says "He really taught me a lot about the process"; and adds that she remains friends with most of the cast members from that film. Her most recent television role was as Janelle Cooper in the ABC sitcom Spin City. She stayed on the show for three seasons before leaving in 2000.
Her most recent film role was as Betty Shabazz in the 2001 film Ali.
Dillard lives in Los Angeles. She dances in her free time and writes screenplays and plays for the stage. Dillard was long-time girlfriend of actor Laurence Fishburne from 1992 until __. The two met while both were filming the movie Deep Cover.
