‘This Is Us’ casts ‘The Cosby show’ actress as Beth’s mother ahead of the season’s return

Phylicia Rashad set to take "This Is Us" by storm as the family matriarch.

Viewers who are not yet hooked by the NBC series "This Is Us," soon will be.

The already fabulous cast is getting a boost in the form of actress Phylicia Rashad, best known to American TV audiences as Clair Huxtable, the mom in the hit comedy "The Cosby Show."

THE PEARSON FAMILY WELCOMES A NEW MEMBER

Rashad will be playing Carol, the mother of Beth Pearson, Randall's wife. Her inclusion will be adding backstory and depth to Beth's character.

Carol is an African American who married a Jamaican American with whom she shared her daughter, Beth.

Phylicia Rashad is a star of the stage, and the first African American woman to have won a Tony Award.

THIS IS THE STORY OF "THIS IS US"

The hit series, now in its third season, centers on the lives of "The Big Three," the Pearson family's children, Kevin, Kate, and Randall.

Kevin and Kate are the survivors of a triplet pregnancy and were born on their father Jack's birthday. The stillbirth of the third baby prompted the Pearsons to adopt an African American (Randall) baby born on the same day and abandoned by his father. Jack dies when the children are 17, leaving wife Rebecca Pearson to raise the teens alone.

PHYLICIA RASHAD PLAYING MOM AGAIN

Rashad will be quite comfortable in her role as a formidable matriarch, since she played the role of America's favorite mom from 1984 to 1992 in "The Cosby Show" and was named "The Mother" of the black community at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards.

AN IMPRESSIVE ROL OF AWARDS

Though she is best known for her television work, Phylicia Rashad is a star of the stage, and the first African American woman to have won a Tony Award for her work in " A Raisin in the Sun."

Rashad is currently starring in a recurring role in another hit series, "Empire," in which she plays Diana Dubois.

Rashad is the sister of actress/ director/ choreographer Debby Allen with whom she worked in the 2001 movie, "The Old Settler."

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PHYLICIA RASHAD'S SECRET FOR SUCCESS

Phylicia Rashad, 70, is one of the most successful actresses of screen and stage, and she is as beautiful and as dynamic now as she was 30 years ago.

The award-winning actress started acting on Broadway in the 70s as part of the cast of "Dreamgirls," and hasn't stopped since.

Rashad attributes her success to hard work and the iron-hard discipline she imposes on herself. Rashad was married three times and is the mother of two children - William Lancelot Bowles and actress Condola Rashād, 32.

In a related story, the actress who played Phylicia Rashad's mother in "The Cosby Show" died at the age of 88.