Lela Rochon

About

Lela Rochon Fuqua (née Staples; April 17, 1964) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Robin Stokes in the 1995 romantic drama film Waiting to Exhale. Rochon also had roles in the films Harlem Nights (1989), Boomerang (1992), The Chamber (1996), Gang Related (1997), Knock Off (1998), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), and Any Given Sunday (1999).

Rochon was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, the daughter of Zelma, a nurse practitioner, and Samuel Staples, a business owner and graphic artist. She is a 1982 graduate of Cerritos High School in Cerritos, California. In 1986, she graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism, with minors in sociology and theatre. In 2016, Rochon returned to CSUDH as the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremonies for the College of Arts and Humanities.

In 1984, Rochon appeared as an extra in the movie Breakin’, where she met the man who would later become her husband. From 1986 to 1988, while attending college, Rochon was one of the “Spudettes” featured in over 30 national spots for the…