Debbie Allen (born Deborrah Kaye Allen on January 16, 1950 in Houston, Texas) is an American actress, choreographer, television director, television producer, and a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She is best known for her role as Lydia Grant in the hit television series, Fame. Her mother, Vivia Allen, moved her children away from the USA and down to Mexico to escape prejudice. Her father was Cherokee Native American

Allen earned a B.A. degree in classical Greek literature, speech, and theater from Howard University and holds honorary doctorates from both her alma mater and the North Carolina School for the Arts. She currently teaches young dancers at her Debbie Allen Dance Academy. She also taught choreography to former L.A. Laker dancer-turned singer, Paula Abdul. Her daughter, Vivian Nixon, played Kalimba in the Broadway production of Hot Feet. She graduated from Jack Yates Senior high school 1967.

She is the sister of Phylicia Rashād, and is married to former NBA player Norm Nixon. She and Nixon have two children, Vivian (born 1984) and Norm Jr (born 1987). She was once married to Winnefred Wilford. She got divorced in 1983 because of the pressures of their careers.

As a child Debbie, her older brother Andrew (called Tex) and older sister Phylicia lived in Mexico to escape US racism. Their mother Vivian Ayers decided to live there to give the Allen children a brief experience of not having to endure the chronic racism and segregation that was typical of Texas during the 1950s. From this, Debbie and Phylicia are fluent in Spanish. Debbie graduated from Jack Yates Senior High School in Houston, TX in 1967. She graduated cum laude from Howard University in 1971 with a BFA in Classical Greek Literature, Speech, and Theater from Howard University. She used her experiences from attending Historically Black College Howard to inform her production and direction of the TV show "Different World, A" (1987). Although her parents divorced, Debbie remained extremely close to her father Arthur Allen, until his death. With Phylicia she has production company "D.A.D." which stood for "Doctor Allen's Daughters". Her Pulitzer-nominated poet mother Vivian is, the artistic and free spirit that has influenced and encouraged the remarkable creativity that so marks Allen as a performer.