She was best known for her portrayal of Willona Woods, the neighborhood gossip maven and a friend of the Evans family on the CBS sitcom Good Times, which aired from 1974 to 1979.

[12] In the early 1960s, DuBois moved to Brooklyn[10] and began her acting career onstage, making her Broadway debut with a small role in the short-lived play The Long Dream, which ran for four days in February 1960.

[13][14][15] After appearing in the play The Blacks in October 1963, she became an understudy for the housekeeper role, portrayed by Gertrude Jeannette, in the comedy Nobody Loves an Albatross, which ran through June 1964.

[16][17][18][19] DuBois next appeared in the Broadway musical Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr., Billy Daniels, Lola Falana and Johnny Brown.

She landed the role of Stormy Monday in the 1973 comedy Five on the Black Hand Side[22] and appeared in Lanford Wilson's play The Hot l Baltimore that same year.

[citation needed] During her time in the play, television producer Norman Lear watched DuBois on stage at the Mark Taper Forum and was impressed with her performance.

He cast her in his CBS sitcom Good Times as Wilona Woods, the Evanses' neighbor and best friend of family matriarch Florida Evans, portrayed by Esther Rolle.