Early works Ross made her big-screen debut in 1996, playing a
Jewish/
African-American woman in the independent feature film
Far Harbor. The following year, she debuted as host of
The Dish, a
Lifetime TV magazine series keeping tabs on
popular culture. In 1998, she starred as a former high school track star who remained silent about having been abused at the hands of a coach, in the
NBC made-for-TV movie
Race Against Fear: A Moment of Truth. Her next role was an independent
feature film titled
Sue. In 2000, she landed her first major studio role in
Diane Keaton's
Hanging Up. That same year, she broke into comedy as a regular performer in the
MTV series
The Lyricist Lounge Show, a
hip-hop variety series mixing music, dramatic sketches, and comedic skits. In February 2006, she starred in
Kanye West's "
Touch The Sky"
MTV music video, playing the role of the best friend of Kanye's ex.
2000–2013: Breakthrough with Girlfriends with co-stars
Persia White,
Golden Brooks, Ross and
Jill Marie Jones in 2013. Ross's biggest career achievement came when she landed the lead role in the hit
UPN/
The CW series
Girlfriends, starring as the show's
protagonist Joan Carol Clayton — a successful (and often neurotic) lawyer looking for love, challenges, and adventure. The series centered on four (later three) young
African-American women, and their male best friend. In 2007, Ross won an
NAACP Image Award in the category, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the series. She won a second Image Award for the role in 2009. In 2007, Ross starred with her brother
Evan Ross and
Queen Latifah in the HBO movie
Life Support. That same year, she appeared in the
Tyler Perry theatrical movie ''
Daddy's Little Girls. She appeared in the 2009 film Labor Pains''. In 2010, she appeared in an episode of
Private Practice as a pregnant doctor. In 2011, Ross appeared in four episodes of
CSI as the estranged wife of
Laurence Fishburne's character. Ross starred in the sitcom
Reed Between the Lines with
Malcolm-Jamal Warner airing on BET starting in October 2011. She won a third
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012 for her performance in the series. In August 2012, it was announced that Ross would not return for Season Two. In 2011, she appeared in the
Lifetime film
Five directed by
Alicia Keys. The performance in the film earned her nominations for an NAACP Image Award and
Black Reel Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series. In 2012, Ross starred in the
NBC drama pilot
Bad Girls.
2014–present: Black-ish and mainstream success In 2014, Ross was cast in the
ABC comedy series
Black-ish, opposite
Anthony Anderson. She plays the female lead role of Dr. Rainbow Johnson. The series debuted with generally positive reviews from critics. Ross received three
NAACP Image Awards and received nominations for two
Critics' Choice Television Awards, four
Primetime Emmy Awards, and two
Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance in the series. Ross's 2016 nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series was the first for an African-American woman in that category in 30 years. The same year, Ross and Anderson faced off on
Spike's
Lip Sync Battle. She emerged victorious with performances of
Nicki Minaj's "
Super Bass" and
Pat Benatar's "
Love Is a Battlefield". In 2015, Ross was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (
honoris causa) by
Brown University. Ross hosted the
BET Awards in 2015 and 2016, and the
American Music Awards in 2017 and 2018. She also hosted
The Fashion Awards in 2019. As of 2018, as CEO of Pattern Beauty LLC of
El Segundo, California, Ross produces a line of "Juicy and Joyful" beauty hair care products made with safe ingredients for curls and promotes support organizations to empower women and people of color. Ross appeared in the fourth episode of
A Little Late with Lilly Singh. In 2019, Ross created, alongside
Kenya Barris, a prequel spin-off of
Black-ish called
Mixed-ish. Ross serves as a narrator for the series starring
Tika Sumpter and
Mark-Paul Gosselaar. In 2020, Ross completed voice work as the title character and executive produced the adult animated comedy television movie
Jodie, but the film lacks a studio or distributor. It was intended to be the first in a series of spin-offs based on MTV's
Daria franchise. Ross voices the title character,
Jodie Landon. In 2020, Ross played the leading role of Grace Davis, a legendary superstar singer, in the musical comedy-drama film
The High Note for
Focus Features.
The High Note marks the first big-screen role for Ross since the 2007 comedy-drama ''Daddy's Little Girls
. The film was scheduled to be theatrically released on May 8, 2020, but the theatrical release was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film later moved its release date to May 29, 2020, through video on demand. In The High Note
Ross made her singing debut, recording a soundtrack album titled The High Note (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)''. The lead single, pop-ballad "
Love Myself" was released on May 15, 2020, through
Republic Records. Ross
emceed the second night of the
2020 Democratic National Convention. In September 2020, she signed a deal with
ABC Signature. In 2021, she was included on the
Time 100,
Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2021 until 2023, Ross hosted the podcast,
I Am America, a collection of audio portraits exploring and deepening conversations about identity and community. In 2022, after the series finale of
Black-ish, Ross appeared as Lainie in the seventh episode of the revived
The Kids in the Hall, released in May 2022. She produced
The Hair Tales, a limited docuseries for
hulu and
Oprah Winfrey Network. Later in 2022, she starred in the upcoming psychological thriller film,
Cold Copy. She starred with
Jeffrey Wright in the film
American Fiction (2023) based on the novel
Erasure. Also in 2023, she starred opposite
Eddie Murphy in the holiday comedy
Candy Cane Lane directed by
Reginald Hudlin. In 2025, "Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross" premiered on the Roku Channel. Over the course of the three-part series, Ross takes the audience along on her solo travels through Morocco, Mexico, and Spain. Variety reported in August 2025 that the series, having set records for the channel, was being renewed for a second season. Most recently, in 2026, she had signed an overall deal with
Fox Entertainment Studios. == Personal life ==