Morgan was born in Dunn, North Carolina, the daughter of Lora, a teacher, and George Morgan, Jr., a butcher. She has a younger sister, Terry. The family relocated to the Bronx when Morgan was still a child. In a 1997 interview with People, Morgan revealed that her father was an abusive alcoholic. While he never physically harmed his daughters, Morgan recalled her mother running from her father often. Her father died of leukemia in 1975. Morgan attended parochial school. Debbie graduated from Aquinas High School in the Bronx.
Career
Morgan's earliest film role was in the movie Cry Uncle! in 1971. She played the role of Dite. Morgan's earliest recurring role was on What's Happening!! from 1976 to 1977 as Diane Harris, and also appeared on Good Times. In 1979, she received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Alex Haley's great-aunt Elizabeth Harvey on the 1979 miniseries ', and her guest-starring role as Curtis Jackson's ex-girlfriend turned prostitute on The White Shadow. Her most famous role was Angie Baxter Hubbard on the soap opera All My Children, a role she originally played from January 1982 to July 1990. Her portrayal of Angie struck a chord with many Black viewers across America. Angie and her love interest, Jesse Hubbard, became the first African-American "supercouple" on the daytime serials. In 1989, Morgan won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She and Williams also co-hosted a music video show titled New York Hot Tracks in the mid-1980s. After leaving All My Children, Morgan played the role of Chantal Marshall on the NBC soap opera, Generations and remained with the show until it ended. She then reprised her role as Angie Hubbard on ABC's Loving in 1993. In 1995, she brought the same character to The City, making Morgan one of the few performers to portray the same character on three different soap operas. From 1997 to 1998, she also played Dr. Ellen Burgess on Port Charles. In the 1980s and 1990s, Morgan became a de facto symbol for the possibilities for black women as all of her soap opera roles involved her playing a successful doctor. Morgan garnered much acclaim from movie critics for her portrayal of clairvoyant Mozelle Batiste Delacroix in director Kasi Lemmons' drama film Eve's Bayou. For her portrayal, she won a Chicago Film Critics Association Award and an Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for an Image Award. She later left soap operas and began her film career with roles in She's All That, The Hurricane, Love & Basketball, Woman Thou Art Loosed, Coach Carter, Relative Strangers, and Color of the Cross. On television, she had roles in The Practice, Strong Medicine, Boston Public, Providence, and Soul Food. From 2002 to 2003, Morgan played lead character Lora Gibson, opposite Lea Thompson, on the Lifetime drama series For the People. She also played the role of the Seer in the fourth and fifth seasons of Charmed. Morgan returned to All My Children in January 2008; 10 years after leaving daytime television. In May 2009 and 2011, she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. In 2011, ABC cancelled All My Children, and Morgan joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Yolanda "Harmony" Hamilton on October 7, 2011, exactly two weeks after All My Children aired its final television episode on September 23, 2011. In 2013, Morgan starred in the internet version of All My Children, reprising her role of Angie Hubbard. The series premiered on April 29, 2013 and was cancelled after a single season. In November 2013, after All My Children was cancelled, Morgan was cast in Starz drama series, Power, opposite Omari Hardwick and Naturi Naughton. In 2015, she co-starred alongside Richard Lawson and Vivica A. Fox in two TV One holiday movies: Royal Family Thanksgiving and Royal Family Christmas. Morgan later played Toni Braxton's mother in the Lifetime biopic '.
Personal life
Morgan has been married four times: to Charles Weldon, to actor Charles S. Dutton, to photographer Donn Thompson and to Jeffrey Winston. She does not have any children.
