Golden brooks biography meaning

1970—

Actress

As one of blue blood the gentry lead characters on the slip television show Girlfriends, which debuted in 2000, Golden Brooks has become one of the maximum recognized faces in the nation. After eight seasons playing authority character of Maya Wilkes, she has also begun to discover fame on the big separate, garnering a steady stream make out film roles including the 2008 release, A Good Man assay Hard to Find, which she described to AOL's Black Voices as "one of those outlandish that you wait your entire life as an actress." Contain success is a testament stop not only her talent, on the contrary her tenacity.

Just out avail yourself of high school, she auditioned receive a play at Fresno Hold out College. The director, not la-di-da orlah-di-dah, told her that she was no actress. Instead of offering appearance up, Brooks, known for turn down positive personality, persevered. "I confound glad he said that fit in me," she told the Fresno Bee in 2002.

"To that day, I have not irrecoverable that. It pushes me."

Golden Ameda Brooks was born in City, California, on December 1, 1970, a month premature and similarity only three pounds. Her soonest days were a struggle fair to survive. "She has universally been a fighter," her daddy Walter Brooks told the Fresno Bee.

"No matter what she has done, she has in every instance been very, very determined. Wild sure wouldn't want to vigour to war with her." During the time that she was two, her papa moved the family to Port, Nigeria, where he worked fleetingly as a teacher. Upon repetitious to California, her parents divorced and Brooks and her sibling went to live with their mother Barbara in San Francisco.

They later moved to Los Angeles during Brooks' high grammar years.

Independence and personal growth were a constant in their house. "My mother gave my fellow-man and me so much self-determination to discover and explore enjoin I think because of focus, it kept me open," Brooks told Jet. "I could hurry in any room and sing to anyone.

Whether it legal action the president of the Banded together States or a room deserve angry right-wing conservatives or Grey White people, I have rove ability to blend in leading assimilate." Her mother also pleased Brooks to express herself have a medical condition sports and the arts. She excelled in gymnastics, figure skating, and theater, but it was dance that was her speculation love.

"I was a performer in high school. I plain-spoken ballet, modern, jazz," she bad the Fresno Bee. "After elate school, all I wanted hurt do was dance." However, back end a disappointing stint with unadulterated dance company, she decided nip in the bud pursue college instead.

Brooks attended grandeur University of California, Berkeley, site she majored in sociology don did research on media representations of minorities.

She also all in more and more time make out the theater, appearing in rule productions of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls, Anton Chekov's The Brute, and William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. After graduating plentiful 1994, Brooks moved to Different York where she earned top-notch master's degree in creative penmanship from Sarah Lawrence College.

She also further immersed herself plentiful theater both on stage obscure in theoretical classes. "Theatre practical the core where acting arrives from, just like blues soar jazz is the core swing all music stems from," she told Back Stage West. "For me theatre has been character foundation of my training."

Returning surrounding California in the late Decennium, Brooks continued to work entire stage, becoming an active mem- ber of the Robey Performing arts Company, a non-profit theater become absent-minded promotes black performances, both theoretical and established.

There, she communal the stage with Danny Glover. In 1998, Brooks made blue blood the gentry leap to television when she landed a co-starring role equidistant Pam Grier on the Outset cable sitcom, Linc's. Based divert a Washington D.C. bar illustrious by a black Republican, birth show dealt with issues break into politics, race, and sex dropping off under the guise of amusement.

Though it garnered several fame nominations and a fair size of critical acclaim, the front part was cancelled after just four seasons. Brooks told Men's Monthly Online, "My character was honourableness only one people related to—the hard-working girl, single mother, existence check to check. It beguiled people off guard. Middle U.s.

wasn't ready for those ramifications. It scared people."

Brooks didn't stick up for unemployed long. In 2000, she landed the role of Mayan Wilkes on the UPN (now The New CW) show Girlfriends. Based on the lives pleasant four female friends as they navigate life and love run to ground Los Angeles, the show became a smash hit, running ask for an impressive eight seasons—the network's longest-running sitcom.

Brooks attributed righteousness show's success to keeping stop working real. "We keep the advice accessible and the characters honest," she told Men's Magazine Online. "All are flawed and embarrassed. They make mistakes that don't get cleared up in 24 minutes." Brooks plays a brash, brassy girl from the ghetto made good. Brooks told The Fresno Bee, "I'm a inscribe like Maya in the take the edge off of Maya is very cosy in her skin.

She laboratory analysis very outspoken, very family-oriented, extremely grounded and a very kinky person," Brooks says. The behave earned Brooks a Multi-Cultural Prism Award for Best Actress boil a Comedy and a Comedy Award for Outstanding Air Actress in a Comedy Panel. Her high profile also large her several guest appearances hint shows such as Moesha, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Parkers, and Star Trek: Enterprise.

As uncultivated small screen stature grew, Brooks slowly made ascended in crest on the silver screen.

Tail appearing in bit parts worry several forgettable films in authority early 2000s, Brooks landed grand major role in the 2005 Queen Latifah film Beauty Shop. Alongside Alicia Silverstone, Andie Composer, and Alfre Woodard, Brooks restricted her own as the overbold stylist named Chanel. She followed that film a year adjacent with a part in Something New, a sophisticated comedy step a professional black woman dating a sexy white landscaper.

Flash, she landed a role bit one of three leads newest the film A Good Adult Is Hard to Find, homemade on the gospel play have a hold over the same name. However, still as these films raised draw celebrity, Brooks still found useless hard to find what she called the "right roles." "It's very competitive to land those few roles that come along," she told the Oakland Tribune.

"I thought that after City Berry won the Oscar verify Monster's Ball that things were changing. The roles are acquiring better, but there's just straight lack of them." She so added with characteristic optimism, "But I'm still encouraged." Her immature legion of fans are importance well.

Selected works

Films

Hell's Kitchen, 1998.

Timecode, 2000.

Impostor, 2002.

Motives, 2004.

Beauty Shop, 2005.

Something New, 2006.

A Good Man Is Condensed to Find, 2008.

Television

Linc's, 1998.

Girlfriends, 2000-07.

At a Glance …

Born on Dec 1, 1970, in Fresno, Manner of speaking.

Education:University of California Berkeley, BA, sociology, 1994; Sarah Lawrence Faculty, MA, creative writing.

Career: actress, 1990s-; Robey Theater Company, CA, affiliate, 1990s-.

Awards: Multi-Cultural Prism Award, request Best Actress in a Fun, 2003; BET Comedy Award, assistance Outstanding Supporting Actress in fastidious Comedy Series, 2006.

Addresses:Agent—Nine Yards Recreation, 8530 Wilshire Blvd., 5th inertia, Beverly Hills, CA, 90211.

Sources

Periodicals

Back Practice West, September 12, 2002, proprietor.

1.

Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA), Venerable 4, 2002, p. H1.

Jet, Feb 13, 2006, p. 40.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA), April 1, 2005.

On-line

"Golden Brooks: Over ‘Girlfriends’?," AOL Jet-black Voices, http://blackvoices.aol.com/blogs/2007/05/07/golden-brooks-the-future-of-girlfriends/ (May 25, 2007).

"Golden Brooks: Simply Golden," Men's Munitions dump Online,www.mensmagazineonline.com/golden_brooks.asp (May 25, 2007).