<P> Khandi Alexander (born September 4, 1957) is an American dancer, choreographer, and actress . She began her career as a dancer in the 1980s and was a choreographer for Whitney Houston's world tour from 1988--1992 . </P> <P> During the 1990s, Alexander appeared in a number of films, include CB4 (1993), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Sugar Hill (1994), and There's Something About Mary (1998). She starred as Catherine Duke in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio from 1995 to 1998 . She also had a major recurring role in the NBC medical drama ER (1995 - 2001) as Jackie Robbins, sister to Dr. Peter Benton . Alexander also received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the HBO miniseries The Corner in 2000 . </P> <P> From 2002 to 2009, Alexander starred as Dr. Alexx Woods in the CBS police procedural series CSI: Miami . From 2010 to 2013 she starred as LaDonna Batiste - Williams in the HBO drama Treme . Later in 2013, she joined the cast of the ABC drama Scandal as Maya Lewis, Olivia Pope's mother, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2015 . Alexander also received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for playing Bessie Smith's sister in the 2015 HBO film Bessie . </P> <P> Khandi Alexander was born in New York City, the daughter of Alverina Yavonna (Masters), an opera and jazz singer, and Henry Roland Alexander, who owned a construction company . She was educated at Queensborough Community College . She appeared on Broadway, starring in Chicago, Bob Fosse's Dancin, and Dreamgirls . She was a choreographer for Whitney Houston's world tour from 1988--1992, and also appeared as a dancer in Natalie Cole's video for "Pink Cadillac" in 1988 . </P>

Who is the actress who plays olivia pope mother
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