Who Plays The Pink Ladies On The Neighborhood?
Created by Jim Reynolds, CBS's "The Neighborhood" is one of the most successful sitcoms to have broken out into network TV screens in the past few years. Following the culture clash that occurs when a nice yet culturally sheltered white Midwestern family moves into a predominantly Black neighborhood in Pasadena, California, the series has enjoyed consistent ratings throughout its run and managed to get up to four seasons and counting.
A large part of the success of "The Neighborhood" is attributable to its cast, which includes not only ostensible leads Max Greenfield ("New Girl") as the solicitous Dave Johnson and Cedric the Entertainer ("The Steve Harvey Show," "The Soul Man," and 2021 Emmys host) as his surly neighbor Calvin Butler, but also Beth Behrs ("2 Broke Girls") and Tichina Arnold ("Everybody Hates Chris"), respectfully, as their wives Gemma and Tina — a veritable murderer's row of beloved sitcom stars. In four years, "The Neighborhood" has also been able to recruit many significant guest stars, with two of those being the actresses who play bowling enthusiasts LaTonya and Regina, also known as the "Pink Ladies."
Two former high school acquaintances of Calvin, LaTonya and Regina first show up on the Season 2 episode "Welcome to Bowling" as Calvin and Dave's rivals in an epic bowling match. Then, they return for another appearance on Season 3's "Welcome to the Invasion," this time outside the bowling alley but still as dynamic a duo as ever. Both characters are played by veteran actresses you might have seen before.
Kym Whitley is a staple of American sitcoms
One half of the "Pink Ladies" team, LaTonya, is played by actress, comedian and TV presenter Kym Whitley, who has been appearing in movies and shows since the early nineties. In that time, Whitley has managed to collect enough memorable roles to stand out as one of the most familiar faces in the American sitcom landscape.
The nineties alone saw her pop up in such varied shows as "Martin," "Married... with Children," "The Wayans Bros.," and "The Parent Hood," and even nab a starring role on the short-lived UPN sitcom "Sparks," on which she played office manager Darice Mayberry. Whitley became enough of a household name to take on the role of hostess on the BET talk show "Oh, Drama!," which in turn led to appearances as herself on series like "The Real Roseanne Show" and "Wanda Does It." She continued to make memorable comedic appearances on various TV shows throughout the 2000s, and, in 2013, her career took another major upturn with the premiere of "Raising Whitley," an OWN reality series centered around Whitley and her then-newly-adopted son Joshua. "Raising Whitley" ran for four seasons and further established Whitley as a darling of TV audiences.
In the years since, she has remained a dependable sitcom guest star, and also ventured out into soap with her role as Big Candi on the digital drama series "The Bay," which netted her a Daytime Emmy nomination (via IMDb).
Cocoa Brown is a prolific comedian and actress
LaTonya's friend and the other "Pink Ladies" member is Regina, who is portrayed by Virginia-born actress Cocoa Brown.
Born Farah Brown, she started out in showbiz as a sketch show writer, contributing to series like "1st Amendment Stand Up" and "BET's ComicView," while in parallel honing her craft as a stand-up comic (via Cocoa Brown 4 Life). A handful of guest spots on both dramatic and comedic television — you may remember her as a mailwoman on Season 2 of "Breaking Bad" — eventually led to her casting as Jennifer, the best friend of protagonist Angela Williams (Tasha Smith), on the popular sitcom "Tyler Perry's for Better or Worse." It aired on TBS for its first two seasons and then on OWN for the rest of its six-year run, all of which featured Brown's Jennifer as a series regular.
Brown's collaboration with Tyler Perry didn't stop there, as the superstar producer and director also cast her as one of the leads in his 2014 female-driven ensemble comedy "The Single Moms Club," alongside Nia Long, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Zulay Henao and Amy Smart. In subsequent years, Brown continued to make guest appearances on several TV series and play supporting roles in comedy films such as "Ted 2," with her most prominent roles being her recurring spots as Carla Price on Fox's "9-1-1" and Principal Grubbs on Netflix's "Never Have I Ever." In 2022, she also released the Comedy Dynamics stand-up special "Cocoa Brown: Famous Enough."