The protagonist of the Lifetime holiday movie “Jingle Belle” is singer/songwriter Isabelle (Tatyana Ali, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). She left her small hometown ten years ago to study music at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City and never looked back. Now, while working at a hot-shot ad agency as a jingle writer, Isabelle gets a desperate call for help from home. The town’s annual Christmas pageant is in jeopardy — and its’ the show’s 50th anniversary. When Isabelle was in high school, she and her boyfriend Mike (Cornelius Smith Jr.) used to sing a duet together every year at the pageant. Isabelle puts her career on hold, much to the chagrin of her boss Emory Simons, to fly home and save the pageant.
Isabelle’s boss is portrayed by Loretta Devine. She’s known for her roles on The Carmichael Show (Jerrod’s mother Cynthia), Being Mary Jane (Cece), The Client List (Georgia Cummings), Grey’s Anatomy (Adele Webber), State of Georgia (Aunt Honey), Eli Stone (Patti Dellacroix), Boston Public (Marla Hendricks) and A Different World (Stevie Rallen), among others. Devine is also well recognized for her roles in films including Crash (Shaniqua) and Waiting to Exhale (Gloria Matthews). Jingle Belle premieres on Lifetime on Sunday, November 25 at 8 pm.
Check out Devine in the original Dreamgirls…
Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Deborah Burrell as the original “Dreamgirls” for the cover of @EBONYMag pic.twitter.com/ycT9dNqwGU
— Brilliance In Black (@BIB_Brilliance) March 21, 2016
