Doris Bowman Isn't Just Anthony Anderson's Mom—She's Also His Co-Star! Find Out All About 'Mama Doris' and Her Foray Into Showbiz
Doris Bowman has wanted to be a star all her life. Her son, Anthony Anderson, is a seven-time Emmy nominee for his sitcom Black-ish (and, as of February 2022, he's also back on the rebootedLaw & Order). Today, Bowman's known as “Mama Doris” (or sometimes as Doris Hancox, which is what she went by before she took the Bowman surname) to a fan base of her very own, which she's built after working with Anderson on two television shows and a series of T-Mobile commercials. All of that almost didn’t happen–until they appeared together on an episode of Celebrity Family Feud.
Bowman gained instant fame when she brought the house down in response to the very first question she was asked on that show:Where would a naked magician pull a rabbit out of? Her colorful response? “From his nuts.” The ensuing conversation “shut production down for 10 minutes,” Anderson would later recall. “Steve could not gather himself, the audience lost it, and the moment went viral on YouTube later.”
When taping was over, producers had an idea. "We eventually lost to Toni Braxton and her family, but at the end of the show the producers came over to me and said, 'Anthony, can we talk to you about your mother?',” Anderson recalled. “And I immediately went into apologetic mode. I was like, 'I am so sorry! I should’ve known that my mother was going to be a little risqué,' and they were like, 'We love that, and we want to talk to you about bringing your mother onto [the game show] To Tell the Truth with you.”
Anderson was more than happy to share the spotlight with Mom. "They’re like, 'Do you have a problem with that?' I was like, 'No, not at all. That’s one less check I’ll have to write every month,’” he quipped.
The banter between mother and son on To Tell the Truth is funny to watch and has led to other projects for the both of them. Bowman has now appeared on Black-ish and the two recently launched a Discovery+ series House Haunters, described as "a hidden camera real estate and home renovation prank series."
It's clear that everyone adores her, so let's learn more about her with our roundup below of everything we know about Anthony Anderson's mother, "Mama" Doris Bowman.
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Is Anthony Anderson’s mother still alive?
Is she ever! Bowman's career is skyrocketing, decades after she first dreamed of getting into showbiz. “First and foremost, my mother wanted to be an actress, that's what she was going to be in life," Anderson once said. "But my mother was a single mother at the age of 18, a senior in high school, and she put her dreams of being an actor on hold to raise an actor."
He’s happy that he can help his mother get the come-up she deserves. "This is something [she] always wanted to do and it just didn't happen for her,” he’s said. "So for me to be in the position, to be able to allow her to live out her dreams finally, it's a beautiful thing."
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So, how is Mama Doris liking the attention these days? She’s having a ball. "You know, nice cars and people fussing over you, I love it," she said. "I love it. I ain't lying. I love it. I wake up and get to work two hours early because I don't want to miss nothing."
The best thing about Bowman is that she’s authentic; the reason she’s so funny is that she says exactly what comes to mind. “What comes up, comes out. That's my slogan. Whatever comes up, comes out,” she’s said. “And, that's all I been doing. Being me."
But she’s not too taken with the trappings of success; as Anderson told Conan O'Brien, Bowman once turned down a trip to the White House to play Bingo in Vegas!
Is Doris Bowman married?
We know that she married Stephen Bowman, Anderson’s stepdad, years ago; whether they're legally still a couple is info that's hard to come by. While guest-hosting Kimmel in July 2021, Anderson described his mother as "single right now." He then tried to help "find her a man" out on L.A.'s Hollywood Boulevard, where he screened a few potential suitors for her.
How old is Anthony Anderson’s mom?
On July 11, 2014, Anderson wished Bowman a happy 61st birthday on Twitter. So, doing the math, she's likely turning 69 in 2022.
What happened to Mama Doris?
For some episodes in 2021, Bowman wasn’t on To Tell the Truth, sparking many questions about where she was. Luckily, though, she’s back!
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Does Anthony Anderson get along with his mother?
The two are very close; they even got the COVID-19 vaccine together with family. Viewers can see that they genuinely have a good time together, trading jokes and playfully picking on each other.
In fact, Bowman inspired her son to be an actor in the first place. “I remember seeing her rehearsing for A Raisin in the Sun at Compton (Calif.) Community College, and I looked up at the stage and said to myself, ‘That’s what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,'” he’s said.
“It’s a lot of fun to get to work with my mother [on To Tell the Truth],” Anderson told Parade in 2019. “It’s not as intense as working on Black-ish, or any other things that I do. We can just get up there and riff, have some fun, and do a show with not reckless abandon, but just be free and say the things that we want to say. It makes for great entertainment and great television.”
