Born July 18, 1944 in New York, NY, Jonelle Allen, known to daytime television audiences for her role as Doreen in Generations, made her television debut in the children's show The Merry Mailman starring Ray Heatherton.
She began her stage career at the age of four in a revival of Wisteria Trees, with Helen Hayes and Ossie Davis at New York's City Center. She received a Tony award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical and won a Drama Critics award, a Drama Desk award, a Theatre World award, and an Outer Critics Circle award for her role in the Broadway musical, Two Gentlemen of Verona. She also received a Dramalogue award for her role in the South Bay Civic Light Opera's production of Man of La Mancha. In addition to all of this, she was part of the original Off-Broadway Cast of Hair.
Her feature film credits include The River Niger, for which she received an Image award, Hotel New Hampshire, Come Back to the Charleston Blue, and Cotton Comes to Harlem. Among her television credits are starring roles in the series Palmerstown and After Midnight, and the made-for-television-movies Black Hope Horror, Penalty Phase, The Midnight Hour, American Women: Profiles in Courage, Sparrow, Legacy of Blood, Cage Without a
Key, and Foster & Laurie.
Jonelle has written a cookbook, based on her grandmother's cooking.