Deborah Joy Winans

Deborah Joy Winans was an American actress who was best known for her starring role as Charity Greenleaf-Satterlee on the dramatic series "Greenleaf" (OWN, 2016-). Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Winans grew up in a creatively fertile environment. She was born into the Winans Family, a Detroit-based family of popular Gospel music singers, so one might say that young Deborah Joy was destined to have a thriving career in the arts. She attended Wayne State University in her native Detroit, and would eventually go on to earn her BFA from the school. Upon graduation, Winans decided to continue her education with post-graduate work at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. It was there in that Deborah Joy Winans would go on to earn her MFA from the University, thus equipping her with the educational training she would needed to embark on an acting career in Hollywood. Winans nabbed her first acting credits in 2014. She landed a small part in the dramatic film "Fragile World" (2014), as well as a part in the short film "Fighting the Battle" (2014). Then in 2015 Winans made her made-for-TV film debut with a role in the Lifetime biographical film "Whitney" (2015). In the Angela Bassett-directed film, which was based on the life of pop star Whitney Houston, Winans played her aunt CeCe Winans, who was a good friend of Houston. Winans' instant exposure from the widely anticipated film soon put her into the sights of casting agents over at the Oprah Winfrey Network. They liked what they saw in the young and talented Deborah Joy Winans and in late 2015 it was announced that she would be starring in the dramatic series "Greenleaf." That series, which was executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, premiered in June of 2016.