Here’s a guide to the cast of Living Single and who they played. Living Single was an African American sitcom that aired for five seasons on Fox between 1993 and 1998. The show was the brainchild of Dear White People showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser and was based on a mix of her own experiences as a young black woman and characters from The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World, on which Bowser had worked as a writer and producer. It was one of the most-watched shows in African American households over the entirety of its five-season run and won Outstanding Comedy Series at the NAACP Image Awards not once, but twice.
Though shows like Friends popularized the New York City-set, urbanite-focused sitcom, Living Single was a forerunner in the genre and groundbreaking in its focus on young black women. Set in a pre-gentrified Brooklyn, the show focused on a group of black twenty-somethings sharing a brownstone apartment and followed them as they navigate their friendships, love lives, and professional careers.
With a flurry of sitcoms getting the reboot treatment, there have been rumors of a Living Single revival floating around for a couple of years. Whether it will happen remains to be seen but in the meantime here’s a recap of the characters and cast of Living Single.
Queen Latifah – Khadijah James
Played by Queen Latifah, the ambitious and independent Khadijah James was the editor and publisher of her own urban magazine Flavor and shared an apartment with roommates Regine and Synclaire. Fun fact: Queen Latifah also wrote and sang the Living Single theme song.
Kim Coles – Synclaire James
Kim Coles played Khadijah’s roommate and cousin Synclaire James-Jones. An aspiring actress, Synclaire was sweet-natured and a more naïve than her cousin who she worked for at Flavor magazine as a receptionist.
Kim Fields – Regine Hunter
Khadijah’s childhood friend Regine Hunter (Kim Fields) was a sassy fashionista with a penchant for wigs and gossip who worked as a buyer for a boutique and was constantly on the lookout for Mr. Right.
Erika Alexander – Maxine ‘Max’ Shaw
Erika Alexander of Black Lightning and Wu-Tang: An American Saga fame played Maxine ‘Max’ Shaw. A sharp-tongued public defender, Max was Khadijah’s best friend from college and spent much of her time at the girls’ brownstone.
Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson – Kyle Barker
Kyle Barker was the girls’ upstairs neighbor and a smooth-talking Wall Street stockbroker who found a sparring partner and on-again, off-again love interest in Max. He was played by Terrence ‘T.C.’ who voiced Mace Windu in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Kratos in the God Of War games.
John Henton – Overton ‘Obie’ Wakefield Jones
Rounding out the main cast of Living Single was John Henton as Overton, Kyle’s wise and witty roommate and the brownstone’s handyman who found love with his downstairs neighbor Synclaire.