Tracee Ellis Ross didn’t need more fans.
She’d already won over a ton of folks after starring on Girlfriends for eight funny seasons. But there is something wonderful about her latest and most heralded role as Dr. Rainbow Johnson on Black-ish that has helped Ellis, 43, cement her place in pop culture as the perfectly imperfect TV wife and working mom.
Here are seven Black-ish moments and reasons Ellis won us over just in time for her upcoming ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood honor:
That time Rainbow tried to hard to impress her friends from college (season one):
And remember when Bow refused to believe Junior (Marcus Scribner) was a Republican (season one)?:
Rainbow and Dre (Anthony Anderson) posed as regular churchgoers for some white parents from their kids’ school and that was hilarious (season two):
Rainbow’s mother-in-law Ruby (Jenifer Lewis) is a piece of work, but Rainbow figures out humorous ways to interact with Ruby—most of time:
Rainbow also isn’t afraid to call Dre on his crap like she did when she was overwhelmed by mom duties (season one):
Then there was that time Dre dropped the ball on Valentine’s Day. But Bow let him know (season one):
Through it all, Rainbow has Dre’s back and that of their four children. She’s smart, funny and flawed and we love her for it:
Black-ish airs 9:30 pm Wednesdays on ABC.