Actress. Singer. Producer. Is there anything Raven-Symoné can’t do? Raven first started acting when she was in preschool, and still has an enviable career that’s taken her through her 30s. She first broke onto the scene in 1989 playing Cliff Huxtable’s adorable step-granddaughter, Olivia Kendall, on The Cosby Show. She was only four years old, and cute as a button! From there, her star power only rose. After leaving the show in 1992, she went on to join the cast of Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper for four years.
Disney Channel fans may best know her for being another Raven, though: Raven Baxter on That’s So Raven! Raven, now 34, became a bonafide teen icon for playing the middle school psychic in the hilarious sitcom from 2003 to 2007. She even sang the truly killer theme song, and recorded an entire album of hits for the show’s soundtrack. Raven returned to her Disney Channel roots in 2017 for a spinoff of the show, called Raven’s Home. She reprised her role as an adult Raven Baxter, living with her childhood BFF Chelsea (Anneliese van der Pol) as they raised their kids in the same house. How cool is that?
During her Disney days, Raven played double duty as part of the fictional (but real, in our hearts) girl group The Cheetah Girls. Raven starred in two Whitney Houston-produced Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMS) about the group, along with actresses Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Sabrina Bryan. She sang her heart out on the soundtracks, too, bringing hits like “Cheetah Sisters” and “Together We Can”. Feeling nostalgic yet?
She starred in another classic DCOM, as well. Forget Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy — – true Disney fans know the only Nebula is Raven in Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. As an adult, Raven took a wide array of projects across different genres, including snagging the starring role of Deloris van Cartier in the Broadway show Sister Act in 2012. Funnily enough, three years later, she would work with the original Deloris, Whoopi Goldberg, on The View.
Raven co-hosted The View alongside Whoopi from 2015 to 2017, eventually leaving after Raven’s Home, which she also produces, got picked up by the Disney Channel. She told the Los Angeles Times that it felt like a homecoming. “I’m continuously having to make choices [as executive producer] that I didn’t have to make before, in a place where I know that if I fall, there’s someone to catch me.”
Now, Raven has a new role to add to her resumé: wife! The actress announced on June 18 that she secretly married her girlfriend, Miranda Maday, in a quiet, backyard ceremony. To see more photos of Raven throughout her career, scroll through our gallery above.