Toukie Smith, the Model Who Became a Sitcom Star on 227, Dies at 74

Her Children, Airyn and Julian, Remembered Her as a “Force of Nature”

Toukie Smith, a model who worked with Hubert de Givenchy, Thierry Mugler, and Issey Miyake before playing Eva Rawley on the NBC sitcom 227, has died at 74. Her twin children, Airyn and Julian, said she died on November 4 at a New York hospital after a “long, courageous battle” with multiple sclerosis.

“Toukie was a force of nature,” her children said. They remembered the lasting impression she had made on them and on the people who knew her. Smith shared Airyn and Julian with actor Robert De Niro, her partner from 1988 to 1996.

Smith was known to different audiences for different work. In fashion, she modeled for internationally recognized designers and earned a distinction from Bloomingdale’s. On television, viewers came to know her as Eva Rawley. She also appeared in films including I Like It Like That and The Preacher’s Wife.

She Took the Name Toukie From a Nickname Her Grandmother Gave Her

Smith was born Doris Smith in Philadelphia on September 25, 1952. Her grandmother gave her the nickname Toukie, which became the name audiences knew throughout her career. It appeared alongside the names of major designers during her modeling years and followed her into television and film.

She studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and graduated in 1972. Modeling came after graduation, giving her a place in the industry she had gone to New York to study. Within six years, Bloomingdale’s had named her its Model of the Year.

The 1978 honor was a milestone in a career that brought her into contact with designers including Givenchy, Mugler, and Miyake. Those names are an important part of her story because they show how established she was in fashion before she became familiar to television audiences. By the time she moved into acting, she had already spent years building a professional reputation under her own name.

Miami Vice and 227 Brought Her to Television Audiences

Smith went on to appear in Miami Vice before joining the NBC sitcom 227 in 1989. She played Eva Rawley, the role that became one of her best-known television credits. Viewers who first saw her on the sitcom were meeting her well after she had made a name for herself as a model.

The change gave Smith a different way to reach an audience. Her modeling work had put her in front of people through fashion. A recurring character on a sitcom gave viewers the chance to recognize her from week to week through the role she played. Eva Rawley became part of how television audiences remembered her, just as the Bloomingdale’s honor marked a particular moment in her modeling career.

Smith also worked on the big screen. Her film credits included Talkin’ Dirty After Dark, I Like It Like That, and The Preacher’s Wife. Those appearances extended her acting work beyond the television series that had introduced her to many viewers.

Someone who remembers Smith mainly for 227 may know little about the work that preceded it. The earlier years matter because they show that the sitcom was a second chapter in a public career. She had already gone from a fashion school graduate to a model working with major designers before she took on the roles that made her recognizable to another audience.

Smith and Robert De Niro Welcomed Twins During Their Relationship

Smith began dating De Niro in 1988, the year before she joined 227. They were together until 1996. In October 1995, they welcomed Airyn and Julian through a surrogate. The couple largely kept their relationship and home life away from public attention.

In a 1990 interview, Smith explained what she valued about that separation. “What’s great about a private life is it’s private,” she said.

She was speaking at a time when her television work and her relationship with De Niro had given people two reasons to pay attention to her. The interview gave her a chance to say, in her own words, where she drew the line between what she shared publicly and what she chose to keep to herself.

Her relationship with De Niro remains part of her biography, especially because it was the period in which they became parents. The work she had done before they met helps put that chapter in perspective. By 1988, a decade had passed since Bloomingdale’s named her Model of the Year. Her best-known sitcom role was still ahead of her.

Her Children Shared the News of Her Death

It was Airyn and Julian who announced that their mother had died. Their statement explained that she had been living with multiple sclerosis and had died in a New York hospital. They also used it to say how deeply she had affected them and the people fortunate enough to know her.

The statement offered two ways of remembering the same person. Readers who followed fashion could look back on the model who worked with Givenchy, Mugler, and Miyake. Television viewers could remember Eva Rawley, and movie audiences could return to the films in which she appeared. Airyn and Julian remembered the woman behind all those public roles as their mother.

Smith had carried the name Toukie from a nickname her grandmother gave her to a career in fashion, television, and film. Decades later, it was the name her children used when they shared the news of her death and described the impression she had left on the people closest to her.