GOAL MODEL: Tracee Ellis Ross

It’s safe to say that for the “nepo babies”, leaving your mark in Hollywood without being overshadowed by your famous parents isn’t the easiest task.

However, in Tracee Ellis Ross’ case, she was able to pull off this feat with ease.

Within the past two decades, Tracee has successfully solidified her own spotlight, proving that she’s much more than the daughter of legendary Motown superstar Diana Ross.

Tracee’s impact is multifaceted — she’s an award-winning actress, fashion icon, beauty entrepreneur, motivational speaker, model, activist, etcetera. In other words: Ross is a multifaceted cultural icon with an extensive résumé.

To fully appreciate the undeniable talent and versatile accolades of the five-foot-seven, curly-haired, and down-to-earth performer, let’s take a deeper dive into the life, legacy, and 27-year journey of Tracee Ellis Ross.

Background

Tracee Joy Silberstein, professionally known as Tracee Ellis Ross, was born on October 29th, 1972 in Los Angeles, California to legendary singer Diana Ross and music manager Robert Ellis Silberstein. She has one half-brother, actor and musician Evan Ross, and two sisters, Rhonda Ross Kendrick and Chudney Lane Silberstein.

Tracee first expressed her love for acting by pursuing higher education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts at Brown University in 1994. After graduation, Ross pivoted into the fashion industry, serving as an editor for various magazines such as Mirabella and New York. Through her exposure to the industry, she’d managed to jumpstart her modeling career. Ross was featured in various magazines and luminaries, including on the cover of Essence and Jet.

It wasn’t long before Tracee revisited her passion for acting. She auditioned and appeared in movies such as Far Harbor (1996), A Fare to Remember (1997), Hanging Up (2000), and In The Weeds (2000). Her big break came when she landed the role of Joan Clayton on the TV sitcom Girlfriends, which opened the door to critical attention and honorable accolades. Due to her acting performance and the sitcom’s success, Joan managed to snag 7 NAACP Image Award nominations, two NAACP Award wins, and a BET Comedy award.

Once Girlfriends ended in 2008, Ellis Ross sporadically secured television work, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Reed Between the Lines, prior to landing her second huge gig as Dr. Rainbow Jackson on the comedy hit series Black-ish in 2014. Her phenomenal performance brought in a slew of awards, including 2 NAACP Awards for Outstanding Actress and a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination. In 2017, Tracee made history, becoming the first Black woman to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Comedy since 1983. When accepting this award, Ellis Ross dedicated her part of the speech to recognizing women of color everywhere:

This is for all the women, women of color, and colorful people whose stories, ideas, and thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid, and important. But I want you to know that I see you. We see you.

Personal Life

Tracee is just as inspiring and iconic IRL as she is on stage.

Ross is self-described as a “happily single woman” who has never been married or had any children. However, although she deeply appreciates her solitude, that doesn’t mean she isn’t open to finding love someday. In a November 2020 interview with Shape, Tracee details her loving relationship with “joyful solitude” and being whole with yourself, regardless of your relationship status:

“People can be in wonderful relationships but can’t actually reap the joy of that connection. Because you can have all the good stuff, but if you don’t know how to be with it, it doesn’t matter. I realize that I hold the idea of wholeness with great reverence and respect because my goal is to have an experience with myself that is while…That doesn’t mean I am not open to and don’t want a relationship. But in my wonderful and robust experience of being single, I have learned to have a productive relationship with loneliness and an intensely juicy relationship with my joyful solitude—I really enjoy my company.”

In her spare time, when she’s not spending time on a film set, Ellis Ross keeps herself busy with passion projects. She teaches a workshop called “Tapping Into Your Creative Well”, encouraging participants to “discover and utilize their inner joy to keep their lives on course”. In addition, Tracee is passionately involved with various nonprofits, working to improve the lives of at-risk teens, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and Aviva Family and Children’s Services in Los Angeles. She has also appeared in the 2011 short film anthology Five on Lifetime, a project focused on breast cancer awareness. In 2019, Tracee leaped into her entrepreneurial era, launching Pattern – a haircare brand designed for curly, coily & tight-textured hair patterns.

Positively Unbothered

Fast forward to now, Tracee’s still doing what she does best — being the goal model that she is.

Ross has been actively pursuing her passion projects, including the Hulu/OWN/Onyx Collective series docuseries “Hair Tales”,  which is being produced through her own production company Joy Mill Entertainment) and, according to Instagram, she was recently spotted living her best life in Jamaica during the holidays.

We want Tracee to know that wherever she goes and whatever she does, we will be cheering her on every step of the way! Tracee Ellis Ross is the EPITOME of #GOALS.