Actor
Lisa Bonet has been a working actress since she was 11, when she began doing commercials in Los Angeles and New York. She was 16 when she won the role of Denise Huxtable. Four years later, though, Bonet's good-girl image began to erode when she married rocker Lenny Kravitz and had a daughter -- then appeared in the controversial voodoo flick Angel Heart. She left The Cosby Show, but reappeared as Denise in the spinoff A Different World. Personal problems prompted her exit from A Different World, and Bonet rejoined the regular Cosby Show cast from 1989 to 1992, when the series ended.

Since Cosby ended she has appeared in several feature films including 1998's Enemy of the State, and went on to further acclaim for her performance in 2000's High Fidelity.

Character
Denise Kendall (née Huxtable), is the second, free-spirited daughter of Cliff and Clair Huxtable. At the beginning of the series, she is sixteen years old, putting her year of birth in 1968. She loves fashion and music, but did not want to attend school to pursue either interest. She is noted as being an individual who usually wishes to march to the beat of her own drum, and often learns lessons up front for herself rather than based off the experiences of others. A two-year stint at Hillman College ends with Denise wishing to see what she can accomplish on her own, which leads her to Africa as a photographer's assistant, where she meets and marries Navy Lt. Martin Kendall. She also became stepmother to Martin's three-year-old daughter Olivia, his child from a previous marriage. Denise eventually decides to become a special education teacher and makes arrangements to attend Medgar Evers College to this effect, but that idea does not work out as Denise eventually leaves New York again when Martin is posted to Singapore on a long-term assignment. It is revealed in the finale that she is pregnant.

During the first two seasons, Denise was portrayed as a very popular high-schooler, with many friends, who seemingly had a different boyfriend every episode. Along with her constantly fluctuating love life, were her various hairstyles and choices of clothing, which were occasionally made fun of by Cliff. In later seasons, however, she exhibited a more flighty nature, often expressing ideas that left Cliff and Clair greatly puzzled.

In season three, Denise left home to attend Hillman College, a fictional, historically African-American college, of which her mother, father and grandfather were all alumni. The Cosby Show's producers created a spin-off series, entitled A Different World, which initially dealt with the life of Denise at college. Denise was written out of the series following its inaugural season (which aired concurrently with season 4 of The Cosby Show), after actress Lisa Bonet became pregnant. Shortly after the start of season five, Denise traveled to Africa for a year, where she fell in love with and married Martin Kendall. In the season six premiere, she returned home, shocking her parents with the news of her surprise marriage to a divorced single father. However, Cliff and Clair accepted the couple when they met Olivia, who immediately won their hearts and was welcomed into the family. Denise was featured regularly on The Cosby Show during seasons 1-3 and 6-7, and on a recurring basis during seasons four and five.

The character is loosely based upon Cosby's daughter, Erinn, who was approximately the same age as Denise. Additionally, Denise attended Hillman College, whereas Erinn attended Spelman College, the university that Hillman is believed to be modeled after.