Jazz Raycole

Jazzmine Raycole Dillingham, professionally credited as Jazzmine Raycole, is an American actress and dancer. She is widely recognized for originating the role of Claire Kyle during the initial season of the ABC comedy series My Wife and Kids.

Born in Stockton, California, Raycole is the daughter of a water company superintendent named Ray and a dance studio owner named Claudia Dillingham, who acted as her childhood manager. She began dancing as a toddler and competed by age four, receiving training from her mother and Barbara Faulkner. Home-schooled by her mother, she attended a program at the Boston Ballet in 2001, the same year she started teaching dance classes at age thirteen.

Raycole launched her acting career in 1995 with appearances in two feature films, providing the voice for a puppy in Babe and playing Onika Harris in Waiting to Exhale. Her early television work included guest spots on sitcoms such as Ellen, Malcolm & Eddie, The Jamie Foxx Show, and Smart Guy, as well as a voice role as Chloe on Hey Arnold! in 2003.

In 2001, she was cast as Claire Kyle on My Wife and Kids, playing the onscreen daughter of Damon Wayans for twelve episodes. She departed the series before its second season after producers sought an older actor for the character. Following her exit, she moved to New York to pursue her passion for dance, traveling and continuing her artistic development.

Over the following years, Raycole secured recurring and starring roles across various television series. She portrayed Allison Hawkins in the drama series Jericho from 2007 to 2008, taking over the role after the pilot episode. She later starred as Lyric Ballentine on the TV Land comedy The Soul Man from 2012 to 2014, and portrayed college student Sydney Fletcher on the BET series The Quad between 2017 and 2018. Her additional television credits include guest roles on Everybody Hates Chris, Monk, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and a performance as the daughter of Stanley Hudson on The Office.

In 2019, Raycole appeared in the television movie Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas and later portrayed Sage in the series Council of Dads. In 2020, she was cast as Izzy in the legal drama series The Lincoln Lawyer, adapted from novels by Michael Connelly. Although the initial network pilot was not picked up, she retained her lead role when Netflix acquired the project, which premiered in 2022.