Miss Cleo

Youree Dell Harris (August 12, 1962 – July 26, 2016) was an American television personality and actress best known for portraying Miss Cleo, a spokeswoman for the psychic pay-per-call-minute service Psychic Readers Network, in a series of television commercials that aired from 1997 to 2003. Harris used various aliases, including Ree Perris, Youree Cleomili, Youree Perris, Rae Dell Harris, Cleomili Perris Youree, and Cleomili Harris.

Early life Youree Harris was born on August 12, 1962, at Los Angeles County Hospital to Alisa Teresa Hopis

The Seattle Post-Intelligencers Dorothy Parvaz reported that University of Southern California found no records that Harris had enrolled for four classes in 1980, as reported by People magazine.

Career Seattle In 1996, Harris as "Ree Perris", wrote a play entitled For Women Only, playing a Jamaican woman named "Cleo", in Seattle. Steven Feder and Peter Stolz (sometimes spelled: Stotz Stoltz Stolz ) started Psychic Advisors Network,

In 1997, Harris moved to Florida, met Steven Feder and Peter Stolz, Fort Lauderdale cousins behind Access Resource Services, Harris was using the Jamaican accent when she moved to Florida and began working as a tarot-reading psychic for a telemarketing center. Harris was approached by Access Resource Services while working at an event in a Pompano Beach, Florida, mall and agreed to appear in an ad in 2000.

In the late 1990s, Harris began work for the Psychic Readers Network under the name Cleo. She appeared as a television infomercial psychic in which she claimed to be a shaman from Jamaica. Her employers' website also stated that Harris had been born in Trelawny, Jamaica, and grown up there.

The network used the title "Miss Cleo" and sent unsolicited emails, some of which stated, "[Miss Cleo has] been authorized to issue you a Special Tarot Reading!... it is vital that you call immediately!" Charges of deceptive advertising and of fraud on the part of the network began to surface around this time. Among the complaints were allegations that calls to Miss Cleo were answered by her "associates" who were actors reading from scripts, and that calls promoted as "free" were in fact charged for.

In 2001, Access Resource Services, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and the Federal Communications Commission.

In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission charged the company's owners and Harris' promoters, Steven Feder and Peter Stolz, with deceptive advertising, billing, and collection practices; Harris was not indicted. The network had billed its victims for an estimated $1 billion. It emerged during a lawsuit in Florida that Harris had been born in Los Angeles, and that her parents were American citizens.

Harris voiced the character of Auntie Poulet in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

In 2003, the New York Daily News reported that TV music network Fuse had signed Harris as a spokeswoman. In early 2005, Harris was reportedly appearing on television as Miss Cleo in advertisements for a used car dealership in Florida, according to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

Harris offered "readings", priced from $75 to $250, and "weddings", priced from $350 and up. Harris had a podcast.

In September 2007, Harris released a spoken-word CD, Convicted for My Beliefs.

Under the name Cleomili Harris she spoke, from Toronto,

Psychic Readers Network's "Miss Cleo" lawsuits In 2015, as Miss Cleo, Harris appeared in a series of advertisements for the General Mills breakfast cereal French Toast Crunch. The Psychic Readers Network sued on the basis that they owned the character of Miss Cleo. The advertisements were discontinued.

The Psychic Readers Network sued Benefit Cosmetics, a Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey subsidiary, for using Harris as "Miss Cleo" in a makeup commercial, as the personas owner.

Personal life and death Harris married at age 19, gave birth to a daughter, and divorced at age 21. She had a second daughter while in her late 20s.

On August 10, 2024, Lifetime Movie Network released the television film Miss Cleo: Her Rise and Fall, starring The Lady of Rage as Harris.