Actor
Keshia Knight Pulliam was just 4 years old when she was cast as the adorable Rudy Huxtable however; she was already an established actress, having appeared on Sesame Street at the tender age of 3. During her Cosby Show tenure, she also found time to star in the feature film The Last Dragon and several made-for-TV projects, including The Little Match Girl, Polly and Polly: Comin' Home (updates of the classic Pollyanna story), and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court in addition to making a few guest appearances on A Different World.In recent years, Pulliam has concentrated on her studies. She is a 2001 graduate of Atlanta's Spellman College, where she earned a degree in sociology. In November 2001, she was the winner of a special former-child-star edition of The Weakest Link(trouncing worthy opponents Jerry Mathers, Danica McKellar, and Tina Yothers). Her winnings benefited the Bonner Foundation, a group that funds scholarships and anti-hunger programs.
Character
Rudith Lillian "Rudy" Huxtable (Keshia Knight Pulliam), is the youngest of the Huxtable children. She is only five years old at the beginning of the series, making her birth year 1979. She comes of age during the course of the show.
We get to see a number of Rudy's friends as the series progresses. Among the best known are the taciturn Peter Chiara who repeatedly ran out the Huxtables' front door when frightened; and the chauvinist, blues-loving Kenny, whom she nicknames "Bud", and who always gets advice from his (unseen) older brother about basically everything. This unfortunately gives him the wrong conception about certain things and gets him in trouble, although he seemed to grow out of it as the series reached its end.
Keshia Knight Pulliam was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in season two, becoming the youngest nominee ever. One of her fellow nominees that year was Phylicia Rashad. Neither won.
The Huxtable family was originally going to be two boys and two girls. The youngest child, Rudy, was initially supposed to be a boy, but the character was re-written for a girl (Keshia Knight Pulliam) when no boys auditioned. Jaleel White, later known for his role as Steve Urkel on Family Matters, revealed in a 2011 interview with Vanity Fair that he had auditioned for the role of Rudy.
The character is loosely based upon Cosby's youngest daughter, Evin, who was approximately the same age as Rudy.
