2006–present
In 2006, Lewis starred as Melba Early in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls. Lewis released her debut CD, entitled Worth Waiting For, in 2006. She played Addaperle in The Wiz with New York City Center's Encores! In 2009, Lewis played Denise Fields on One Tree Hill. In 2010, Lewis played a minor recurring role as Lauren's mother in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. In 2012, she voiced Malora in Strange Frame. She also appeared as Dr. Knapp on Days of Our Lives in 2012–2013. In 2014 Lewis starred in The Divorce along with Vanessa Bell Calloway, Tatyana Ali & Freda Payne. In 2014, she started a recurring role that ran the final four seasons of Major Crimes as Patrice, a love interest and later wife of Lt. Provenza, whom he met during a case. In that same year, she also voiced Ruby's mother Helen Hanshaw in one episode of Sofia The First.
In March 2016, Lewis was cast in Disney Junior's animated series Doc McStuffins as the voice of Grandma McStuffins.
In 2017 she provided the voice of Maybelle Mundy in the film Bunyan and Babe. In 2018 she began voicing Fannie Granger on DreamWorks's Spirit Riding Free and Dr. Jones in Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, while in 2019 began voicing The Chief on Netflix's animated Carmen Sandiego. She voiced Attorney General's special agent Lenora Carter in The Simpsons episode "The Fat Blue Line" in 2019, and became the voice of Bernice Hibbert starting with "Uncut Femmes" in 2021.
From November 2019 to January 2022, she began portrayed Zelma, Tina Turner's mother, in the musical Tina on Broadway.
From August 2020 to December 2024, she starred as the voice of Captain Carol Freeman in the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks.
From 2021 to 2022, Lewis voiced Ms. Jackie Washington, the Neighborhood Council President of Hansberry Heights, in the animated series Karma's World.
In 2021, Lewis was among the first honorees to be inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Lewis is an honorary member of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority.
