Quicknation, comprehensive information and links about Danitra Vance

Danitra Vance during the 1985-86 season. She was awarded an NAACP Image Award in 1986 and later won an Obie Award for her performance in the theatrical adaptation of repertory player. She is best remembered for the sketch "That Black Girl", a spoof of the 1960s sitcom , and for her character Cabrini Green, an urban teenager named after a Chicago housing project.

Vance became frustrated and ultimately left because her roles in sketches were mostly limited to prostitutes and maids. Perhaps adding to her frustration was her dyslexia, which according to an Trivial Pursuit question made it hard for her to read from cue cards. Her final performance included a song called "I Played the Maid," a tribute to black women in Hollywood.

, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990, Vance underwent a single mastectomy and incorporated the experience into a solo skit, "The Radical Girl's Guide to Radical Mastectomy." Unfortunately, the cancer recurred in 1993 and she died the following year at the age of 40.