Shirlene Pearson

Pearson was born and raised in Corsicana, Texas, where she attended Corsicana High School, and Navarro College, before graduating from DeVry University where she received her BA in Computer Information Systems.^[2]

While at a nightclub in Dallas, Pearson was discovered by theatrical producer Shelley Garrett, who approached her to be a leading role in his stage play Beauty Shop, in the replacement of Kym Whitley.^[5][6] Soon thereafter, she began traveling with Garrett, and appearing in his subsequent plays You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else and Doing The Right Thing With The Wrong Man, leading to her role as the Mayor in Fred Hammond's Christmas... Who Needs It.^[2]

In 2008, Pearson began her career in radio, regularly appearing on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show, and later making appearances on Smiley's sitcom, The Rickey Smiley Show.^[7] Pearson remained a full time personality until leaving the radio show in December 2019 after twelve years. Though the show's producers claimed her exit was a result of filming conflicts with Pearson's reality show, Little Women: Atlanta, Pearson asserted the real reason was because she was not offered a contract following the show's company switch.^[8]

She was a cast member and executive producer on the Lifetime reality television show Little Women: Atlanta.^[9] Pearson has stated she hopes Little Women: Atlanta "teaches and informs people about who little people are."^[10] From 2018 to 2022, Pearson appeared in the TNT series Claws, playing the recurring role of Tabitha throughout the show's duration alongside Niecy Nash.^[11]

On April 28, 2022, Pearson was hospitalized in the ICU amid suffering a stroke, which caused a brain bleed, resulting in her being put in a medically induced coma.^[12][6] On May 27, Pearson returned to social media, revealing she was recovering from memory loss (caused by the brain bleed) and in speech therapy.^[13][14]