{
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  "@id": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/person/150753/cheryl-pepsii-riley",
  "name": "Cheryl Pepsii Riley",
  "url": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/person/150753/cheryl-pepsii-riley",
  "knownForDepartment": "Acting",
  "description": "Cheryl Bridget 'Pepsii' Riley is an American singer and actress. Riley is best known for her music during the late 1980s through the early 1990s, most notable; 1988's R&B ballad \"Thanks for My Child\". Riley also starred in multiple Tyler Perry stage plays and films.\n\nAfter high school, Riley worked as a nurse for disabled children before beginning her singing career. Riley began her music career as a lead singer in the band Stargaze, who released the single \"You Can't Have It\" in 1982.\n\nIn November 1988, Riley topped the US R&B chart and hit the Top 40 on the pop chart at No. 32 with the ballad, \"Thanks for My Child,\" a song written by Full Force. Her second LP, Chapters, was issued and yielded the singles \"How Can You Hurt The One You Love\" and a cover of Aretha Franklin's 1968 hit \"Ain't No Way\". Her third album All That! was released by Reprise, and featured the singles \"Gimme\" and \"Guess I'm In Love.\"\n\nAfter a hiatus from the entertainment industry, Riley re-emerged in the late 1990s by appearing on the songs \"I Love It\" and \"Look Around\" on The Beatnuts album A Musical Massacre.\n\nShe also starred in a number of gospel plays for best-selling playwright Tyler Perry, including Madea's Class Reunion, Madea Goes to Jail, Why Did I Get Married?, Laugh to Keep from Crying, Madea's Big Happy Family and A Madea Christmas. She also appeared in the film versions of Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea's Big Happy Family. She is also starred in Tyler Perry's Madea Gets a Job (2012) and Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned (2014).\n\nFollowing her appearance on a number of tracks on the Diary of a Mad Black Woman soundtrack in 2005, the following year Riley released Let Me Be Me, her first album in fourteen years. In 2015 she released a new solo album entitled Still Believe.",
  "birthDate": "1968-10-18",
  "birthPlace": "Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA",
  "alternateName": [
    "Cheryl Riley",
    "Cheryl 'Pepsii' Riley "
  ],
  "image": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/rNSwBYPBkpfA3Gue6uwQk03dvkQ.jpg",
  "sameAs": [
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  "lastVerified": "7 May 2026",
  "filmography": [
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      "title": "Madea's Big Happy Family",
      "year": "2011",
      "role": "as Choir",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.747,
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    {
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      "tmdbId": 16186,
      "title": "Diary of a Mad Black Woman",
      "year": "2005",
      "role": "as Singer at Banquet (uncredited)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
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      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/4w36ckDhsWFPD9XaHOOJb1ru7JZ.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/16186/diary-of-a-mad-black-woman-2005"
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      "title": "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family - The Play",
      "year": "2010",
      "role": "as Joyce",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.4,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/ma85tCHs7qPOA0TTWGRoXCPtXQn.jpg",
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      "title": "Madea Goes to Jail - The Play",
      "year": "2006",
      "role": "as Wanda",
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      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/kTzOnvfkwcAhjMq6bcezjBcI1cs.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/79325/madea-goes-to-jail-the-play-2006"
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      "title": "Madea's Class Reunion - The Play",
      "year": "2003",
      "role": "as Stefanie",
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      "title": "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married - The Play",
      "year": "2006",
      "role": "as Sheila",
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      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/74PJv3lxs3eltMDH9YRVIwP9PMU.jpg",
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      "tmdbId": 165649,
      "title": "Tyler Perry's Madea Gets A Job - The Play",
      "year": "2012",
      "role": "as Carla",
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      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/jpVDJgxiH5icjLXDlg6nszcrifU.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 275725,
      "title": "Colorz of Rage",
      "year": "1999",
      "role": "as Donna",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/qpUZ82r2y7ZyKNN4zy4KIa0v111.jpg",
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    },
    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 566429,
      "title": "Warrior Pride",
      "year": "2018",
      "role": "as Diane",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.2,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/gNA4g5WaUonqgUFDHG15fCaJyzY.jpg",
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      "title": "Laugh to Keep from Crying",
      "year": "2011",
      "role": "as Carol",
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      "title": "Tyler Perry's Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned - The Play",
      "year": "2014",
      "role": "as Anita Lincoln",
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