Shari Headley brings an unforced sincerity to characters who need to seem ordinary. We value that steadiness, particularly in Coming to America, but her breakthrough role leaves us wishing she had been allowed to be funnier.
Fi1m perspective
In Coming to America (1988), Shari Headley's Lisa McDowell has to make the courtship matter while the impersonations carry on around her. Her sincerity gives Eddie Murphy someone credible to fall for, and we value the lack of fuss in her playing. The difficulty is that Lisa gets so little of the comic freedom enjoyed by the supporting cast. We grew impatient with the romance because she is given so few opportunities to be funny. There is an appealing actor here whom the screenplay seems reluctant to let loose.
John Landis's film remains an enjoyable comedy, with Murphy's sweetness helping us forgive the predictable courtship. David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein's screenplay is more generous to John Amos as Cleo McDowell and James Earl Jones as King Jaffe Joffer, both of whom have more scope to impose themselves. Headley's naturalness is useful beside these larger performances, though it cannot make up for the shortage of interesting things she is asked to do. We would have liked the screenplay to give her a joke worth interrupting them for.
Television became the mainstay of her subsequent work, including Detective Mimi Reed in All My Children (1991–2005) and a lead role as Juanita Barnes in 413 Hope St. (1997–1998). Those parts belong to a broader pattern of casting her as police officers, social workers and other authority figures. We can see why that suits an actor whose manner is so down to earth. It also moves her beyond being the person a leading man hopes to win.
Her later work includes a villainous role in The Haves and the Have Nots (2014–2016) and a return as Lisa in Coming 2 America (2021). The villainous casting interests us because it offers something beyond the sincerity that made her a plausible romantic lead. We would welcome more opportunities for her to be troublesome, funny or both. Start with Coming to America, but do not expect the romantic lead to get first choice of the jokes.
Biography
Shari Headley is an American actress and model. Born on 15 July 1964 in Queens, New York City, she began her career as a model after winning a contest sponsored by the Ford Modelling Agency in 1984.
She is best known for portraying Lisa McDowell in the 1988 romantic comedy Coming to America and reprising the role in its 2021 sequel Coming 2 America. Headley made her acting debut in an episode of The Cosby Show in 1985 and appeared in Miami Vice. On television she played Mimi Reed in the soap opera All My Children from 1991 to 1994, with later returns, and starred in the short-lived series 413 Hope St. (1997–1998). Her other film credits include Johnson Family Vacation (2004).
Headley was married to actor and rapper Christopher Martin from 1993 until their divorce in 1995.
