Otelia Cox: What Can Actually Be Verified About Tony Cox’s Wife

Otelia Cox is the wife of actor Tony Cox, best known for Bad Santa. A December 2023 CBS42 profile mentions him praying with his wife, Otelia, before the Bad Santa audition. IMDb and a reference entry also name her. Little else is documented. Her age, career and whereabouts are not public record, and sources disagree on the marriage year: 1989 in reference listings, 1981 on Wikipedia.

What reliable sources actually say about Otelia Cox

Only a few claims hold up.

One more on-the-record mention exists. In a 2016 San Francisco Examiner interview, Cox said his wife is very spiritual and doesn’t watch Bad Santa. The article does not name her.

The dated paper trail

This is where she appears in the records we could read.

The takeaway: the only news outlet we found that names her says nothing about her background. Everything personal beyond that comes from reference listings or pages that cite nothing.

The marriage-year problem: 1981 or 1989?

The sources conflict, and the evidence leans toward 1989 without settling it.

Another wiki, BhamWiki, also says 1989 and cites the CBS42 profile. But that profile, which we read in full, gives no marriage year.

So 1989 appears in two reference listings, while 1981 traces only to web pages from 2024. That tilts toward 1989. It does not prove it, because neither reference shows where it got the date.

The timeline doesn’t help either. Cox graduated from high school in 1976 and left for California in January 1977, according to CBS42. Both years fit a couple who met in school. Until a primary record or an on-the-record statement appears, treat the year as unresolved.

Why online Otelia Cox biographies disagree

Most of these pages are templates with a fill-in field for every detail. Few cite anything. The problems are easy to spot:

• Birth year. One page says 1963 and calls her 60 in 2025, which doesn’t add up. Another says 1958. Neither cites a source.
• Home. Two pages say Manhattan. A third says California.
• Education. One page lists Alabama State University as her school. CBS42 and the reference entry connect that university to Tony Cox, so this looks like a mix-up.
• Invented identities. In search excerpts, other pages name different women as his wife or credit “Otelia” with a role in a major film franchise. No reputable source supports either claim.

Repetition is not confirmation. When many pages share an unsourced detail, they may all trace back to one place. For a method, see our guide to checking celebrity bio pages.

Not to be confused with Otelia Cromwell

Searchers sometimes land on a different Otelia. Otelia Cromwell (1874–1972) was a scholar and educator. Smith College describes her as its first Black graduate (1900). Yale’s Women Faculty Forum lists her book The Life of Lucretia Mott. We found nothing linking her to the Cox family.

What we are deliberately not publishing

Tony Cox is a public figure. His wife is not, and we found no sign she sought attention. So we are leaving out:

• Her age, birth date, home city or address
• Her physical measurements
• Any net worth estimate, since we found no credible basis for one
• The name, gender or whereabouts of her child
• Any description of her job, personality or influence on his career that no source supports
• Agent or manager contact details that appear on some reference pages

See our editorial standards for how we handle family members of public figures.

Tony Cox in brief

Tony Cox, born March 31, 1958, grew up in Uniontown, Alabama, graduated from Robert C. Hatch High School in 1976 and moved to California in January 1977, per CBS42. He is best known for Bad Santa (2003) and its 2016 sequel. Wikipedia calls him retired. In the 2023 CBS42 interview, he said he stepped away after hip surgery following Bad Santa 2 and had begun considering a comeback. We found no newer confirmation of his status. Read more in our Tony Cox career profile.

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FAQs

Who is Otelia Cox?

Otelia Cox is Tony Cox’s wife. A December 2023 CBS42 profile mentions her by name, and IMDb and a reference entry also name her. Her age, career and whereabouts are not publicly documented.

When did Otelia and Tony Cox marry?

Sources conflict. IMDb and a reference entry say 1989. Wikipedia says 1981, citing two 2024 web pages. We could not confirm either year.

Do Otelia and Tony Cox have children?

IMDb and Wikipedia say one child, and a reference entry says one daughter. CBS42 calls Tony Cox a father but gives no details. We are not publishing more about the child.

Is Otelia Cox an actress?

None of the reputable sources we reviewed describes her as one. Some low-quality pages claim a film career without support.

What is Otelia Cox’s net worth?

No reliable figure exists. The one number we found appeared on a page that cited no source or method, so we are not repeating it.

Does Otelia Cox have social media?

No source we reviewed points to a verified account. We did not search social platforms directly.

Is Otelia Cox related to Otelia Cromwell?

We found no source linking them.

How we verified this

On November 2, 2026, we searched for “Otelia Cox” and related queries. We read these in full: the CBS42 profile (through a mirror of the page), the San Francisco Examiner interview, the IMDb biography, the Encyclopedia.com entry, Wikipedia’s Tony Cox article, and four Otelia Cox web pages (AllBlogThings, Explosion, USA Times and Bizora). Other pages, including Smith College and Yale material on Otelia Cromwell, we saw only as search excerpts. We could not open the second page Wikipedia cites for the 1981 date. We did not contact Tony Cox, his representatives or Otelia Cox, and we found no marriage record. We will update this article if better evidence appears.