TLDR: Camille Winbush was acting before she could talk, got her SAG card at two, and grew into one of the most decorated young stars on The Bernie Mac Show. Years later, a very different career move made headlines, and she’s had a clear, unbothered answer ready for anyone who’s asked about it.
Camille Winbush showed up on set as a toddler and earned her Screen Actors Guild card in 1994, cast that same year as Lucy Wilkes in Viper.
Her real breakthrough came in 2001, when she was cast as Vanessa “Nessa” Thomkins, the oldest of Bernie’s three nieces and nephews, a role she held across all five seasons.
She Won Three NAACP Image Awards for the Role, and Still Notices Who Never Calls
Winbush picked up four NAACP Image Award nominations for playing Vanessa, winning three of them, along with a Young Artist Award. She’s stayed candid about a strange gap between that recognition and how the ceremony has treated her since. “I find it interesting that as a three-time winner, I’ve never been asked to present an award at the ceremony or even be invited to attend,” she said.
Acting work continued steadily afterward, with roles on Grey’s Anatomy, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and The Choir. Asked which role stayed her favorite, she didn’t hesitate. It was still Vanessa.
She Made a Career Move in 2021 That Reopened an Old Conversation
In 2021, Winbush announced she’d joined OnlyFans, framing the decision on her own terms from the start. “Yes, you heard that right. I have joined OF! But I’m doing it my way,” she wrote, describing plans for skincare content, live Q&As, singing, and dancing rather than framing it as something aimed only at one kind of subscriber.
The reaction online leaned hard on a lazy assumption: that her Bernie Mac residuals had dried up. She’s addressed that directly and more than once. “People that are outside of the acting world have no place to speak on it,” she told Comedy Hype. “When people are saying, ‘Oh, those Bernie Mac checks must have dried up.’ I’m like, ‘From a job 20 years ago when I was a 12-year-old?'”
She’s been specific about the real economics behind the decision, rather than letting the rumor stand unanswered.
The residual payments haven’t actually stopped, she’s said, they’ve just shrunk to the point of not covering a living. “They get smaller and smaller every year,” she explained. “You’re not making the same amount that you were when the show was current, per episode. Twenty years later, those checks are not sustainable for a living.”
She’s also pushed back on any implication that the decision reflects poorly on her late costar’s memory. “I am not broke or desperate for money. Bernie, God rest his soul, is not turning over in his grave. STOP saying that,” she wrote. “Even if meant as a joke, it is far from funny.”
You can read more about the rest of the cast in our full guide to The Bernie Mac Show.
Camille Winbush, Frequently Asked Questions
How many NAACP Image Awards did Camille Winbush win?
She won three, out of four nominations, for playing Vanessa Thomkins on The Bernie Mac Show, along with a Young Artist Award.
Why did Camille Winbush join OnlyFans?
She’s said her Bernie Mac residual checks had shrunk significantly over the two decades since the show aired and no longer supported a living, though she’s rejected the framing that she was broke or desperate.
What other roles has Camille Winbush had?
She’s appeared in Grey’s Anatomy, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and The Choir since The Bernie Mac Show ended.
