Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe (born 8 March 1973), better known as Boris Kodjoe, is an Austrian-born German actor and former fashion model who works primarily in the United States. He is perhaps best known for his role as courier-turned-sports agent Damon Carter on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food and for his role as David Taylor in the film The Gospel . Additionally, he starred as Steven Bloom in the cancelled 2010 NBC action/drama series Undercovers, and as Luther in the film Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Kodjoe attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a tennis scholarship, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1996. A four-year letterman on the Rams' men's tennis team, he is currently ninth in school history with 75 career singles wins. Tied for third in doubles victories with 66, he was paired with Jonas Elmblad on 37 of them, also third all-time. His brother Patrick Kodjoe played for VCU's basketball team. A back injury ended Boris' tennis aspirations, but he was quickly signed as a model and soon after entered acting.
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970), also known as Nikki Kodjoe, is an American actress and a former model. Parker is best known for her role as Becky Barnett in the 1997 film, Boogie Nights and as the attorney Teri Joseph on the Showtime series, Soul Food, which ran from 2000 to 2004.
Parker was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the only child of her divorced parents, health care professional Susan Parker and dentist Donald Parker. Parker's ethnic background is African American and Cherokee. At the age of 17, she won best actress in the state of Maryland's high school competition and then moved to the Washington Ballet Company before applying to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She graduated with an acting degree in 1993.
Early in her career she appeared in several critically acclaimed independent films including The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, Boogie Nights, 200 Cigarettes, and the 1999 Sundance Film Festival winner The Adventures of Sebastian Cole. She starred with her husband, model and actor Boris Kodjoe, in UPN's situation comedy Second Time Around.
Sharon Ann Leal (born October 17, 1972 or 1979) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in movies such as Dreamgirls, Why Did I Get Married?, Why Did I Get Married Too? and her roles on the television shows Legacy, The Guiding Light, Boston Public, and Hellcats.
Leal was born in Tucson, Arizona to a Filipino mother and an African American father. Her adoptive father, Jesse Leal, was a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force and a police officer at Clark Air Base, Philippines;now he is a substitute teacher in the canutillo area he married Leal's mother in 1976 and legally adopted Leal. Leal's mother, a housewife, later re-married to Elmer Manankil, the father of Leal's younger sister, Kristina.[citation needed]
Former Guiding Light co-star Yvonna Wright has said that she and Leal are close friends; the two starred together in a community production of Dreamgirls in their hometown.
Leal's career began with the role of Dahlia Crede in the CBS daytime serial Guiding Light. Later, she joined the Broadway company of Rent. Soon after, she was cast as Mimi for the San Francisco leg of the first national tour of Rent. Leal also appeared on the 1999 original cast recording of the Off-Broadway musical Bright Lights, Big City alongside Patrick Wilson and Jesse L. Martin. She also appeared on the 2001 cast recording of Making Tracks.
Duane Martin (born August 11, 1965) is an American film and television actor.
Martin was born in Harlem, New York, and is a graduate of New York University. He played on the university's basketball team. He is married to former Martin and My Wife and Kids star Tisha Campbell-Martin. The couple wed on August 17, 1996. Together they have two sons: Xen Martin, born on August 8, 2001, and Ezekiel, born September 8, 2009.
Martin had a short stint as a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New York Knicks. He was signed to a 1 year contract, but he was released after 3 months due to injury. He is the owner of Impact Sports, a company that represents professional athletes.
A native of New York and NYU graduate. Duane was drafted by the New York Knicks before pursuing an acting career.
His love for sports was the motivation for him to launch his own sports agency, "Impact Sports." Duane started "Impact Sports," with 2 clients holding $1 million in contracts, the company has since expanded and now represents 50 clients and holds $1 billion in contracts.
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.
Latifah was born, and primarily raised, in East Orange, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Rita (née Bray), a teacher at Irvington High School (her daughter's alma mater), and Lancelot Owens, Sr., a police officer, her parents divorced when Latifah was ten. Latifah was raised in the Baptist church and attended Catholic school in Newark, New Jersey. Her stage name, Latifah (لطيفة laţīfa), meaning "delicate" and "very kind" in Arabic, she found in an Islamic book of names when she was eight. Always a tall girl, the 5'10" Latifah was a power forward on her high school basketball team. She performed the number "Home" from the musical The Wiz in a high school play. She is of African American and Native American ancestry.