Haneefah Wood

Haneefah Wood
Born	(1979-09-16) September 16, 1979 (age 46) Prince George's County, Maryland, US
Education	Syracuse University (BFA) [1]
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2002–present

Haneefah Wood is an American actress. She is known for her role as Candace De La Brix on Nurse Jackie , Vickie/Rafik's Sister in Freedomland , Blanche on Grease Live! , and Wilma Howell on Schooled and The Goldbergs .

Career

Wood was born in Prince George's County, Maryland, but relocated to New York City, where she attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School. While in school at age 17, Wood began auditioning for the Broadway production of Rent . She received three callbacks and was eventually cast as a swing. She later graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in musical theatre. ^{[1] [2]}

Several years later, she made her television debut in 2002, playing Raleena in the Strong Medicine episode "The Philadelphia Chromosome". In 2005, she appeared as Ellie Graham in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Prisoner", along with performing in the Broadway musical Brooklyn as a vocalist. Later that year, she made her debut in the Broadway musical Avenue Q as Gary Coleman, a role she would later reprise Off-Broadway. ^{[3] [4]}

She made her film debut in 2006 as Vickie/Rafik’s Sister in Freedomland . On television, she later played Candace De La Brix in Nurse Jackie (2011), Layla Mislap in NYC 22 (2012), and had guest roles on White Collar (2013) and The Millers (2014). ^[5]

In 2015, Wood starred as Pearl in the sitcom Zoe Ever After . ^[5] That year she also appeared in Life in Pieces . She went on to portray Blanche in the live musical Grease Live! (2016) and a camp administrator in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2016). ^[3]

From 2017 to 2020, Wood held recurring and starring roles including Ivy in Baskets , Cydie Scoville in Truth Be Told , Jill in One Day at a Time , and Wilma Howell in Schooled , where she joined the main cast in season two. ^[3]

Her later credits include Professor Howell on The Goldbergs (2021), Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle on Murderville (2022), Shirley Stedman on Hello Tomorrow! (2023), ^[6] and Judge on Drag Me to Dinner (2023). ^[7] She also appeared as Megan in the comedy pilot St. Denis Medical (2025). ^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes	Ref.
2006	Freedomland	Vickie/Rafik's Sister		[3]
2014	Typecast	Haneefah	Short film
2015	Hook Man	Odessa	Short film
2016	Grease Live!	Blanche	TV movie
2018	Art Prison	Warden Parks	TV movie

Television

Year(s)	Series	Role	Notes	Ref.
2002	Strong Medicine	Raleena	Episode: "The Philadelphia Chromosone"	[3]
2005	Law and Order: Criminal Intent	Ellie Graham	Episode: "Prisoner"
2011	Nurse Jackie	Candace De La Brix	2 episodes
2012	NYC 22	Layla Mislap	Episode: "Schooled"
2013	White Collar	Wanda	Episode: "Empire City"
2014	King Bachelor's Pad	Herself	Episode: "Obamacare: Healthcare Livin'"
	The Millers	Vicky	Episode: "Movin' Out: Carol's Song"
	The League	Teacher	Episode: "Epi Sexy"
2015	Life in Pieces	Tanya	Episode: "Burn Vasectomy Milkshake Pong"
2016	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	Camp Administrator	Episode: "I'm Back at Camp with Josh!"
	Zoe Ever After	Pearl	Main role
2017	S.W.A.T	Norah	Episode: "Homecoming"
2017–2019	Baskets	Ivy	5 episodes
2017–2020	One Day at a Time	Jill	11 episodes
2019–2020	Truth Be Told	Cydie Scoville	Main role
2019–2020	Schooled	Wilma Howell	Joined main cast in season 2
2021	The Goldbergs	Professor Howell	Episode: "Bevy's Big Murder Mystery Party"
2022	Murderville	Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle	6 episodes
2023	Hello Tomorrow!	Shirley Stedman	10 episodes
	Drag Me to Dinner	Herself / Judge	Hulu original [8]
2025	St. Denis Medical	Megan	Episode: "Anything to Push Zaluva"

Theatre

Year	Production	Role	Venue	Ref.
1996	Rent	Swing	Broadway, Nederlander Theatre	[2]
2003	Little Shop of Horrors	Ronnette	Regional, Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre	[4]
2004	Brooklyn	Vocalist	Broadway, Plymouth Theatre	[2]
2005	Avenue Q	Gary Coleman	Las Vegas production	[4]
			Broadway, John Golden Theatre	[2]
2009	Rent	Joanne Jefferson	U.S. National Tour	[4]
2010	Avenue Q	Gary Coleman	Off-Broadway, New World Stages
2014	Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike	Cassandra	Regional, Old Globe Theatre
2015			Regional, Huntington Theatre Company
2018	Bad Dates	Haley Walker
	It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play	Lana Sherwood	Regional, Pasadena Playhouse

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2016	IRNE Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Play (Large Theater)	Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike	Won	[4]
2018	Elliot Norton Award	Outstanding Solo Performance	Bad Dates	Nominated
2019	IRNE Award	Best Solo Performance (Large Theater)		Won

References

1. "Names in the News". The Washington Post. November 15, 2001. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
2. "Haneefah Wood". Playbill. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
3. "Haneefah Wood (I) – IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
4. "Haneefah Wood". About the Artists. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
5. "Haneefah Wood | TV Guide". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
6. "VIDEO: Apple Unveils HELLO TOMORROW! Series Trailer Starring Billy Crudup". BroadwayWorld. January 18, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
7. "Bianca Del Rio to Host Hulu's 'PRIDE NEVER STOPS' Campaign". BroadwayWorld. June 20, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
8. Rice, Lynette (May 1, 2023). "'Drag Me To Dinner': Hulu Announces Premiere Date For Unscripted Series From Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.