Actress Rowell to be special guest at UNCF gala

FLORENCE – Actress and author Victoria Rowell of “The Young and The\ Restless” fame will be in Florence on Friday to help raise money for the United Negro College Fund.

Rowell will be the celebrity guest at the 19th Annual UNCF Florence/Pee Dee Salute to Education Gala Friday at the Florence Civic Center.

Born in Maine, Rowell was raised in foster care for her entire childhood. Under the auspices of the Ford Foundation, she received a full scholarship to the Cambridge School of Ballet in Massachusetts at the age of 8. As a young dancer, she flourished there and became a member of the American Ballet Theater family. In addition, she participated in an exchange program with the Julliard School of Music and Dance program.

Rowell made the transition into acting from classical dance in her late 20s thanks to an audition in front of Bill Cosby. Cosby was so impressed by the young actress that he cast her as his daughter in his comedy “Leonard Part VI,” where she made her film debut. She also had a recurring role on The Cosby Show.

ABC brought Rowell to Los Angeles to audition for a series. During that time, she also auditioned for the daytime drama “The Young and The Restless” and was cast immediately. She appeared on the series as “Drucilla Winters” for 13 years.

Since then, she’s amassed an impressive list of acting credits. Her feature films include “Eve’s Bayou” with Samuel L. Jackson; “Distinguished Gentleman” with Eddie Murphy; “Dumb and Dumber” with Jim Carrey; “Motives” with Vivica A. Fox; and “One Red Rose” with Hill Harper.

On the small screen, she was a series regular on “Diagnosis Murder” opposite Dick Van Dyke and guest starred on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

In addition, she is an accomplished MC and an award winning author for her book “The Women Who Raised Me.” Her latest book is “Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva.”

Rowell has been honored with 12 NAACP Image Awards, and she is involved with multiple charities. In 1990, she founded The Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan. The mission of the organization is to give direct services in the areas of fine arts, higher education, health care, financial literacy, reunification programs, cultural enrichment and resources family support.

“Growing up in foster care, I was never meant to be raised by one mother, but by many,” Rowell said.

“Still, no matter how nomadic my lifestyle, the one constant in my life was my love of dance personified by my ballet shoes,” she said. “The art of dance served as a wonderful disciplinarian for me for future successes to come. I learned at an early age that if I slipped on my ballet shoes, practiced diligently and sacraficed occasionally, I would be rewarded in the end. Those same principles of hard work and sacrifice still apply today, and I continue to reap big rewards.”

Local UNCF officials are hoping Rowell can help them reap big rewards for the UNCF campaign, which has raised more than $3.2 billion to assist more than 60,000 current students and 350,000 alumni from the 38 UNCF-member institutions. Contributions assist UNCF in providing operating funds, scholarships and internships for students and faculty and administrative professional training for the member institutions.

“The overall fundraising goal for the 2010-2011 South Carolina campaign is $735,000,” gala honorary chairperson Frank James of First Reliance Bank said.

“The Florence/Pee Dee market seeks to raise at least $125,000 as its net contribution,” James said. “During the spring semester 2010, more than 10,000 UNCF-supported students were at risk of dropping out of school because of financial concerns. Local contributions certainly assisted many South Carolina students with their plight and kept them in the classroom.”

UNCF supports more than 8,000 students attending school in South Carolina – Allen University, Benedict College, Claflin University, Morris College and Voorhees College.

“These institutions play a vital role in our society and economy and are valuable assets to our local communities,” James said. “Financial contributions to UNCF ensure that these institutions of higher learning will continue to thrive and produce leaders now and in the future.”