Acting
Mablean Ephriam
Mablean Deloris Ephriam, Esq. (born April 23, 1949), is a distinguished former prosecuting attorney from Los Angeles who has made significant contributions to both law and entertainment. Her legal journey began as a corrections officer in the Women's Division of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She later pursued her legal education at Whittier Law School, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1978. By 1982, she had established her own law firm, focusing primarily on personal injury and family law, and soon became a Los Angeles Prosecuting Attorney.
Ephriam gained national recognition in 1999 when she became the first female and African American arbitrator of the revived television courtroom series, Divorce Court. Unlike earlier versions of the show that relied on dramatizations, her tenure marked a shift to reality-based proceedings, where she presided over real-life divorce cases for seven seasons, until 2006, when she was succeeded by Judge Lynn Toler.
In addition to her legal career, Ephriam appeared in the film adaptation of the play Diary of a Mad Black Woman and reprised her role as a stern judge in Madea's Family Reunion and Madea Goes to Jail, portraying a character often faced with the tumultuous antics of Madea.
In 2014, she returned to the screen with her own courtroom series, Justice with Judge Mablean, produced by Entertainment Studios, which aired on the Justice Central cable channel and was syndicated across various platforms, solidifying her legacy in both law and media.
