Although to daytime junkies she will forever be known as fiery fashion model Drucilla Winters, Rowell survived a difficult childhood to become a successful actress, activist and author. Raised in foster care practically since birth, she managed to thrive under difficult circumstances. She particularly excelled in ballet, winning scholarships to the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theater as a teen before going on to dance professionally. In the '80s, she segued to modeling, appearing on runways and in catalogs before launching her acting career with a recurring role on
The Cosby Show. After a brief stint on
As the World Turns, Rowell won her signature
Y&R part and became an immediate fan favorite with her tempestuous romantic life and feisty attitude. Aside from a few brief hiatuses, Rowell stayed with the soap for 17 years, earning three Daytime Emmy nods and 11 NAACP Image Awards, while many of her own real-life experiences — foster care, dancing, modeling — were incorporated into her character's story lines. Somehow she managed to pursue outside projects, including an eight-season stint on the prime-time mystery
Diagnosis Murder as a pathologist/medical examiner, and a handful of feature-film roles, including her winning turn as Eddie Murphy's politically minded love interest in
The Distinguished Gentleman and a part in 2006's
Home of the Brave, which introduced her to her rumored beau 50 Cent. As an author, Rowell penned an episode of
Diagnosis Murder and a moving 2007 memoir
The Women Who Raised Me about her foster-care experiences. Due to her upbringing, she founded the Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan, an organization dedicated to providing arts and sports opportunities for children in the system.
Victoria Rowell Fast Facts:
- Was enrolled in ballet school at age 8 by her foster mother Agatha Armstead.
- Danced professionally with numerous companies, including the American Ballet Theater II, Ballet Hispanico of New York, Contemporary Ballet, Twyla Tharp Workshop and the Julliard School of Music Dance Extension Program with Anthony Tudor.
- Real-life son with Wynton Marsalis, Jasper Armstrong Marsalis, played her child on Diagnosis Murder.
- Victoria Rowell Relationships:
- Dorothy Mabel Collins Rowell - Mother
- Jasper Armstrong Marsalis - Son
- Lori - Sister
- Maya - Daughter
- Sheree - Sister
- Tom Fahey - Ex-husband
- Wynton Marsalis - Ex-significant Other
- College:
- Cambridge School of Ballet, Cambridge, MA; American Ballet Theatre School, New York, NY
