Cree Summer, the actress who played Freddie Brooks in the sitcom A Different World, was introduced as Octavia Laurent in Queen Sugar Season 4, Episode 5, titled Face Speckled, on July 10.
She also appeared in Episode 6, titled By the Spit, which aired Wednesday night.
Octavia Laurent is a professor and an ex-lover of Nova Bordelon (Rutina Wesley). Nova is being shunned by her family even as her book wins accolades and she makes the shortlist of National Book Award nominees.
While on her cross-country book tour, she meets her former professor and ex-lover Octavia. Octavia “surprises Nova while in Atlanta during her cross-country book tour.”
Nova comes under criticism from Octavia, who questions why she gets only a very brief mention in Nova’s book. It seems that Octavia has only come to ride on Nova’s coattails.
Summer joins the guest cast of Queen Sugar Season 4 which includes David Alan Grier as Jimmy Dale, Erica Tazel as Deesha Brown-Sonnier, and Kendall Clark as Joie. Walter Perez Jr. also joined the cast of Queen Sugar Season 4 as a series regular, playing Romero.
Who is Cree Summer?
Cree Summer is an actress, voice actress, and singer, born on July 7, 1969.
She has voiced roles in several animated series, including Penny in Inspector Gadget (1983), Gerin in Star Wars: Droids, and Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka in Star Wars: Ewoks (1986-1987).
Her film credits include Lisa in Wild Thing (1987), Cheryl in Perfect Crime (1991), and voice of Penelope in Blizzard (2003).
She is best known for her role as Winifred “Freddie” Brooks on NBC’s beloved sitcom A Different World (1988-1993). She also appeared as Karen Simmons in Night Heat (1985) and as Lisa Adams in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994).
She most recently portrayed Lenny in Better Things (2019).