Essence Atkins is an American actor, model, and AIDS activist. She began her career with 'The Cosby Show,' which was the first-ever African–American primetime soap opera. Until the mid-1990s, Essence was mostly seen in brief roles and then began getting more significant roles. Some of her notable series and films are 'Half & Half,' 'Are We There Yet?,' 'A Haunted House,' 'Under One Roof,' 'Malibu Shores,' and 'Smart Guy.' Essence is a trained dancer, and she even once dreamt of becoming a professional dancer. However, destiny had other plans for her. Incidentally, Essence got her breakthrough role because of her dance institute. Essence has been associated with a few AIDS-awareness programs and has contributed a lot to spread positivity about the disease. Essence was earlier married to former Puerto Rican collegiate football free safety Jaime Mendez, with whom she has a son. The two announced their divorce in 2016. Essence was born Essence Uhura Atkins, on February 7, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York City, US, to Sandy Nelson and Jeffery Atkins. She grew up in St. Albans, Queens. Essence attended 'Profession Children School,' which is a school for students who work and continue their studies simultaneously. She has learned her basics of dance from the 'Alvin Ailey Institute.' Essence got to know about the auditions for 'The Cosby Show' from a job description posted on her dance institute's bulletin board. Following this, she called the casting manager and made it to the show after appearing in a couple of auditions. Essence had initially started her career as a ballet and contemporary dancer but later quit her dance career for acting. Essence is the only child of her parents. However, between the late 1990s and the early 2000s, a rumor stated that famous Hollywood twins Tia and Tamera Mowry were her sisters. Essence was just 13 years old when she began her career as an actor. She was cast in two episodes of the 'NBC' sitcom 'The Cosby Show.' Essence first appeared in the 1986 episode 'Vanessa's Rich.’ She then appeared in ‘I'm "In" with the "In" Crowd,' which aired in 1989. She played the role of ‘Paula Young’ in both the episodes. Following this, Essence appeared on a few TV shows and in a TV movie titled 'Sunday in Paris.’ She was approached for the role of ‘Danielle Marks’ in the spinoff of the 'NBC' sitcom 'Saved by the Bell.' Essence even filmed a pilot episode for the spinoff, titled 'Saved by the Bell: The College Years,' which aired in 1993. Unfortunately, she was dropped from the show after Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, a leading cast member of the original, rejoined the cast.

click here