Marsha Warfield

Marsha Francine Warfield (born March 5, 1954) is an American actress and comedian. She grew up on Chicago's South Side, graduating from Calumet High School. She is best known for playing tough, no-nonsense bailiff Roz Russell on the NBC sitcom Night Court from 1986 to 1992, reprising the role on a guest basis for its 2023 revival. Warfield also starred in the sitcom Empty Nest as Dr. Maxine Douglas (1993–1995). Before Night Court, she was a writer and performer on the short-lived Richard Pryor Show. Warfield appeared in feature films such as D.C. Cab (1983) and Mask (1985), hosted The Marsha Warfield Show for ten months (March 1990–January 1991) and has made guest appearances on many television shows, including Riptide, Family Ties, Clueless, Cheers, Living Single, In Living Color, Cybill, Moesha, Smart Guy, and Touched by an Angel. Her early stand-up comedy career is profiled alongside those of Rhonda Hansome, Alice Arthur, and Jane Galvin Lewis in the 1984 documentary I Be Done Been Was Is by director Debra J. Robinson. As of 2024 she has a recurring role on 9-1-1 as the mother of main character paramedic and firefighter Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, played by Aisha Hinds. She has also done stand-up comedy including appearances on the Norm Crosby hosted The Comedy Shop television series. She won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition in 1979, over such competition as Dana Carvey and A. Whitney Brown.