Catching Up With Keshia Knight-Pulliam

The Cosby Show' actress is all grown up and definitely ready to take control of her career.

Since starring as Rudy Huxtable -- the youngest Huxtable child -- in the hit NBC sitcom, 'The Cosby Show,' for eight seasons, actress Keisha Knight Pulliam has done a fine job of making diverse career choices.

Pulliam told BlackVoices.com that she is very happy that she took a break from acting to attend historically black women's college, Spelman College , where she graduated in 2001 with a degree in sociology.

"I think that I am very thankful to have had such a long career. It's a blessing and something very special to me. I took a long break after 'Cosby' to go to college and I don't regret that," says Pulliam. At age six, she became the youngest actress to ever be nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance on 'The Cosby Show.'And, after graduating from Spelman, she returned to acting and turned up in notable film roles such as Queen Latifah's 'Beauty Shop,' and 'The Gospel.' She also showed herself in a different, more grown-up light, as rapper Chingy's sexy love interest in his 'One Call Away' music video. These days Pulliam's is back on the small screen with a leading role on the hit TBS series, 'Tyler Perry's House of Payne,' an experience that she says shares the same camaraderie as 'Cosby.'

"I said, 'Ok, sure I will come in for ten episodes,' and the storyline was so popular," she revealed. "People just loved the Calvin (played by actor Lance Gross) and Miranda story," so much that it led to her taping an additional 26 episodes of the popular sitcom.

Tyler Perry, the show's creator, has been so impressed with Pulliam that he cast her in his upcoming movie, 'Madea Goes to Jail' as Candace "Candy'" Washington a heroin-addicted prostitute who the pistol-packing main character befriends after both women end up in jail. Derek Luke, Sophia Vergara, 'Doubt's' Viola Davis and David and Tamala Mann also star in the movie.

"It was a very different role for me and a lot of hard work because it's a darker role and you have to take yourself there in order for it to be believable," she said.

"I really just tried to get into character," she added. "I don't have any history of drug abuse or prostitution or any of those things, but I did talk to a woman who had been in that situation and recovered from that situation and I really just tried to get into those stories.""Nobody would cast little Rudy as a prostitute. Nobody would give her the chance," Perry said in a recent interview with BlackVoices.com. "She really wanted to show people that she can act. And she did a great job in the film."

Next up, Pulliam is hoping to continue her transition into becoming not only a respectable adult actor, but very selective about the overall projects that she's involved in. Now at age 29, she is trying her hand in producing and directing, like her new boss, Perry. She has created her own production company with her partner Kassem Penn called PullPenn Productions and is in the midst of working on a few television and film projects. You can see Keisha in 'Madea Goes to Jail,' which hits theaters on Feb 20, 2009 and also on 'Tyler Perry's House of Payne,' airing Wednesdays at 8 PM on TBS.