The Writeup: Dawnn Lewis first came before our eyes on A Different World (1987), the popular sitcom on which she played Jalessa Taylor from the show's inception to 1992 (on a side note, she also composed the shows theme song). She left the show in 1992 to join the cast of Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, a popular Fox series. However, she was only with the show for one year and has done very little since then. She has done voice over work for a number of shows, including the 1994 iteration of Spider Man, and has done a few feature films and TV movies. Her feature films include I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Bad Day On the Block (1997), The Wood (1999), Nicolas (2001) and Before Now (2002). She was also a cowriter on the 1998 TV movie Black Jaq.