YOUR HOSTS FOR

Whether she is bringing laughter to millions of television viewers
around the world, moving theatre-goers to tears, thrilling movie fans,
offering new insights to students by teaching Master Classes at renowned learning institutions that include Howard University, Julliard,
and Carnegie Mellon, serving on Boards of prestigious organizations,
or breaking new ground as a director, Phylicia Rashad is one of the
entertainment world’s most extraordinary performing artists.
A native of Houston, Texas, Rashad graduated Magna Cum Laude
from Howard University.
A versatile performer, Rashad became a household name when she
portrayed “Claire Huxtable” on “The Cosby Show,” a character whose
appeal has earned her numerous honors and awards for over two
decades. She teamed up with Bill Cosby in later years on television as
“Ruth Lucas” on “Cosby.”
While television was a catalyst in the rise of Rashad’s career, she
has also been a force on the stage, appearing both on and offBroadway, often in projects that showcase her musical talent such as
“Jelly’s Last Jam, “Into The Woods, “Dreamgirls” and “The Wiz”.
As a dramatic actress, Rashad has appeared on Broadway as “Violet
Weston” in “August Osage County,” “Big Mama” in “Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” ( a role that she reprised on the London Stage), “Aunt Ester” in August Wilson’s “Gem Of The Ocean,”(
Tony Award nomination) and “Queen Britannia” in Shakespeare’s
“Cymbeline” at Lincoln Center. Ms. Rashad received both the Drama
Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her riveting
performance as “Lena Younger” in the Broadway revival of Lorraine
Hansberry’s “A Raisin In The Sun.” She has completed work on Tyler
Perry’s upcoming film “Good Deeds,” and starred in Perry’s highly
acclaimed film version of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who
Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf.”
Behind the scenes, Phylicia made her directorial debut at the
Seattle Repertory Theater with August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean.”
Critics gave her first foray into the directing world rave reviews, saying
“Rashad steers Seattle Rep’s show with great sensitivity and understanding - for both the text and actors.”
Of her work at the helm of The Ebony Repertory Theatre’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun” last spring, the Los Angeles Times hailed
Rashad’s California directing debut by stating that she “…nails the
play’s rich humor in a solidly rendered production.” She will remount
the production at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles in January
2012.
Respected in the academic world, Rashad is the first recipient
of the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University.
She recently received an Honorary Doctorate from Spelman College
where First Lady Michelle Obama delivered the 2011 commencement address. Rashad also holds Honorary Doctorates from Carnegie
Photo by Matthew Jordan Smith
www.urbanwheelawards.com
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YOUR HOSTS FOR
Phylicia Rashad
Award Winning Actress
Mellon University, Howard University, Providence College, Morris
Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, Barber Scotia College, St.
Augustine College, and Brown University.
Among the awards that decorate her walls and shelves are
the Texas Medal of Arts, the National Council of Negro Women’s
Dorothy L. Height Dreammaker Award, the Board of Directors of
New York Women In Film and Television’s Muse Award for Outstanding Vision and Achievement, Dallas Women In Film Topaz
Award, Peoples’ Choice Awards, several NAACP Image Awards, and
the Pan African Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rashad serves on the Advisory Board of the PRASAD Project
and the Board of Directors of True Colors Theatre, the Broadway
Inspirational Voices, The Actors Center, the Center for African
American Studies at Princeton University, and the ADEPT Center
which is steering the restoration of the historic Brainerd Institute.
Phylicia Rashad is also the mother of two adult children.
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL URBAN WHEEL AWARDS
..
FOR THE EVENING
John Quiñones is the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC newsmagazine “Primetime” and has been with the network nearly 25 years. He is the sole anchor of the “Primetime” series “What Would You Do?,” one of the highest-rated newsmagazine franchises of
recent years. During his tenure he has reported extensively for ABC News, predominantly
serving as a correspondent for “Primetime” and “20/20.”
While Quiñones was covering the Chilean Miners’ disaster last year, he was the first
journalist out of thousands to get an exclusive interview with the first survivor (Mario
Sepulveda) who spoke about the miners’ horrendous ordeal. Other recent headline-making interviews include an exclusive with singer/actor Marc Anthony who, for the first time,
spoke about his separation and pending divorce from Jennifer Lopez.
Quiñones’ work for “What Would You Do?” captures people’s reactions when confronted with dilemmas compelling them to either act or walk away. He has extensively
covered a religious sect in Northern Arizona that forces its young female members to take
part in polygamous marriages. Other reports include going undercover with a hidden
camera to reveal how clinics were performing unnecessary surgical procedures as part of
a major nationwide insurance scam; he followed along with a group of would-be Mexican
immigrants as they attempted to cross into the U.S. via the treacherous route known as
“The Devil’s Highway”; and he traveled to Israel for a CINE Award-winning report about
suicide bombers.
In September 1999, Quiñones anchored a critically acclaimed ABC News special entitled “Latin Beat,” focusing on the wave of Latin talent sweeping the U.S., the impact of the
recent population explosion and how it will affect the nation as a whole. He was awarded
an ALMA Award from the National Council of La Raza. He also contributed reports to ABC
News’ unprecedented 24-hour, live, global Millennium broadcast, which won the George
Foster Peabody Award.
Quiñones’ reports for “20/20” have included an in-depth look at the unprecedented
lawsuit against the Cuban government by a woman who claimed she unknowingly
married a spy, and an exclusive interview with a Florida teenager who brutally killed
her adoptive mother. He was honored with a Gabriel Award for his poignant report that
followed a young man to Colombia, as he made an emotional journey to reunite with his
birth mother after two decades. Other stories originating from Central America include
political and economic turmoil in Argentina and civil war in El Salvador. During the ‘80s
he spent nearly a decade in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama
reporting for “World News Tonight.”
Quiñones has won seven national Emmy Awards for his “Primetime Live,” “Burning
Questions” and “20/20” work. He was awarded an Emmy for his coverage of the Congo’s
virgin rainforest, which also won the Ark Trust Wildlife Award, and in 1990 he received an
Emmy for “Window in the Past,” a look at the Yanomamo Indians. He received a National
Emmy Award for his work on the ABC documentary “Burning Questions—The Poisoning
of America,” which aired in September 1988, and was also honored with a World Hunger
Media Award and a Citation from the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for “To Save
the Children,” his 1990 report on the homeless children of Bogota. Among his other
prestigious awards are the First Prize in International Reporting and Robert F. Kennedy
Prize for his piece on “Modern Slavery -- Children Sugar Cane Cutters in the Dominican
Republic.” He received an Outstanding Alumni Award from his alma mater, the Columbia
Graduate School of Journalism in 2010.
Emmy Award Winning
ABC News Anchor
Quiñones joined ABC News in June 1982 as a general assignment correspondent based in Miami, providing reports for
“World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” and other ABC News
broadcasts. He was one of the few American journalists reporting
from Panama City during the U.S. invasion in December 1989.
Prior to joining ABC News, he was a reporter with WBBM-TV
in Chicago. He won two Emmy Awards for his 1980 reporting on
the plight of illegal aliens from Mexico. From 1975 to 1978 he
was news editor at KTRH radio in Houston, Texas. During that
period, he also was an anchor-reporter for KPRC-TV.
Quiñones received a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communications from St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. He
received a Masters from the Columbia School of Journalism.
The Official Multicultural Event of the North American International Auto Show
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www.urbanwheelawards.com
PRESENTERS
Congressman Hansen Clarke
(D - MI)
Congressman John Dingell
(D - MI)
Debbi Morgan
Film & TV actress
Gina Hiraizumi
Actress / Recording Artist
Roop Raj
Anchor / Report FOX 2
Lauren Fix
“The Car Coach”
Shelby Fix
“The Teen Car Coach”
Alfredo José Estrada
Publisher, Latino Magazine
Justin Durant
Detroit Lions starting linebacker
Cast of “Wives of Favor”
A new upcoming reality show
Koffey Brown, Dyanna Wooten,
Cherylin Hodge
David C. Lizárraga
Founder & Chairman – TELACU
AL Piña
Co-Founder - National Latino
Automotive Council
Elizabeth Gallagher
Immediate Past Vice Chair,
United States Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce
Senator Debbie Stabenow
(D - MI)
Karen Payton
Vice President - Decisive Media
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Frankie Darcel
Radio Personality, MIX 92.3 FM
Damian Gregory
Valerine Menard
Former NFL Defensive Tackle
Associate Publisher/Editor
for the Detroit Lions and
Decisive Latino/Decisive Auto Latino
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
magazines
Kelly Johnson
Sunday Business Editor,
The Washington Post
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL URBAN WHEEL AWARDS