A Renaissance performer who is perfectly at home (and who has proven herself adept) in a broad array of genres and formats, Niecy Nash dreamed of an acting career from early girlhood. She trained as a theater major at California State University, Dominguez Hills, then obtained her first paid acting assignment by virtue of an L.A.-area casting director who enlisted her in Herbert_Ross' 1995 comedy drama Boys on the Side. That assignment resulted in a memorable scene opposite Whoopi_Goldberg, and Nash followed it up four years later with a small role in Robert_Altman's comedy Cookie's_Fortune (1999). The actress made her most enduring impact on television, however, with guest spots on NYPD Blue and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, vocal work as Tollie Mae on the offbeat animated sitcom Kid_Notorious, and -- perhaps most endearingly -- a regular assignment as Deputy Raineesha Williams on the raunchy, rollicking police-themed sitcom Reno_911! In 2007, Nash starred as the character of Jacuzzi opposite Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy_Liu in the comic thriller Code_Name:_The_Cleaner. Nash also hosted the Style Network's home-makeover series Clean_House, and emceed both Emmy and Oscar pre-shows.Nathan Southern, Rovi