“The diversity in the cast made a huge difference because there were things that the writers just couldn’t write in … little nuances that they were not aware of, especially from myself and Kenan,” she explained. “I’m from the Bronx and Native American Afro-Latina, so I was able to bring so much to the table. We would bring cultural nuances and it was celebrated. With ‘Inconvenience Store,’ there was a cultural aspect that people are more familiar with now, but back then they really weren’t.”
Her creativity extended far beyond comedy. Knowings was a singer and dancer, later appearing on Sesame Street alongside her twin brother, Chris Knowings. She also had a writing credit on the 2009 film Mother and Child and released the folk song “To the World” in 2020.
Looking back on her All That years, Knowings once recalled one particular character with special affection: Gloria Bankhead, an over-the-top Martha Stewart-inspired personality she played during her final season.
“I just remember being on set and being her all-day long,” Knowings recalled in 2019. “Everybody loved it! The writers, the stage managers, everybody was just like, ‘Hi Gloria!’ Gloria Bankhead was my favorite character to play. She was on set like that all the time. It was fun to just be in character like that, even when the cameras weren’t rolling. It’s what I’d do constantly.”
