Carson appeared in productions at the famed
Negro Ensemble Company. Her first notable credit came in 1991, when she appeared in
Law & Order and in 1992 she had a non-speaking, minor role in the comedy series,
The Cosby Show. She was a regular on
The Apollo Comedy Hour before appearing in film in ''Let's Get Bizzee
(1993), Jason's Lyric (1994) and Devil in a Blue Dress (1995). She has appeared in Love Jones and Life. She also performed as an R&B singer in the 1995 television movie Divas
. She had a role in the 1997 movie Eve's Bayou'', as Mattie Mereaux. On television, she played the recurring character Carla Reese, the on/off girlfriend of
Eriq La Salle's Dr.
Peter Benton in NBC's
ER between 1996 and 2001. Between 1997 and 2002 she played prosecutor Renee Raddick in Fox's
Ally McBeal, a role for which she received multiple award nominations. Carson was fired from both roles, amid reports about her erratic behavior on and off set, alleged drug use, being arrested and admissions to a mental health facility. She did return to
Ally McBeal to reprise her role for the final episode. After a ten-year hiatus, she returned to acting in 2012, featuring in a guest appearance in the second-season finale of the NBC series ''
Harry's Law reprising her character Renee Raddick from Ally McBeal
. In 2017, she starred in the BET miniseries The New Edition Story''. ==Personal life==