Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962)[1] is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her starring role as Whitley Gilbert in the television sitcom A Different World and Roxy in Dead Like Me.Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 Personal life 3 Television roles 4 Film roles 5 Stage 6 Radio 7 Discography 7.1 Albums 7.2 Singles 8 References 9 External links
[edit] Biography
Born to an African American father and a Portuguese American mother[2], Guy was raised in the affluent historic Collier Heights neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended the former Northside Performing Arts High School (which merged with North Fulton High School to form North Atlanta High School). Her mother's name is Jaye Rudolph, and her father, the Reverend William Guy, was pastor of the historic Friendship Baptist Church of Atlanta, which served as an early home to Morehouse College and Spelman College) She later studied dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City in 1981.
During the run of A Different World, she released her self-titled debut album in 1990, which spawned three singles: "Try Me", "Another Like My Lover", and "Just Want to Hold You." The album went on to sell 168,000 copies. In the spring of 2006, Jasmine Guy spoke to the graduating class at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and revealed that she will record a second album. She commented that of all the entertainment industries, the music industry was the worst. She will sell her new album online herself and not through a major label, similar to the marketing strategy used by Prince. [edit] Personal life
She married Terrence Duckett in 1998. The couple has one child, a girl named Imani, born in 1999. On April 8, 2008, People reported that the actress and her husband of nearly 10 years were divorcing due to irreconcilable differences.
Jasmine Guy was also a good friend of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, whom she met through her costar on A Different World, Jada Pinkett Smith. Guy collaborated with Shakur's mother, Afeni, to write a biography of her life as a former Black Panther. The book, "Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary," was published in 2005 by Simon and Schuster and received critical acclaim for its poignancy.
Jasmine was also friends with O. J. Simpson. [edit] Television roles
Guy began her television career playing as an extra in the 1982 sitcom Fame. She later had a role in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where she played Kayla, one of Will Smith's girlfriends. In an appearance on Living Single, Guy played a psychologist who advised Khadijah when she began exhibiting symptoms of bipolar disorder. Guy appeared as Caitlin Mills on three episodes of Melrose Place, as Peter Burns' love interest. She also made a cameo appearances on the Moesha spin-off The Parkers, and the That's So Raven episode "Checkin' Out" as a famous fashion photographer named Pistache. Guy had a starring role in Dead Like Me, a Showtime series which ran from (2003-2004). She played Roxy Harvey in 23 episodes, and starred in the feature film Dead Like Me: Life After Death, which was released in 2009. In the PBS math-based cartoon Cyberchase, Guy has lent her voice to two characters: Ava, the queen of the cybersite Symmetria, and the recurring Ms. Fileshare the Cybrarian, owner of the Cybrary, or library. She also had the recurring role of Kathleen, a fallen angel in the CBS Network Drama Touched by an Angel.
Guy currently appeared in The CW series The Vampire Diaries as Sheila "Grams" Bennett, the grandmother of Bonnie (Katerina Graham), who turned out to be a descendant of Salem Witches.[3]
She also appeared on the TV show "Linc's". [edit] Film roles
Early in the run of the TV series that made her famous, Guy took a major film role playing Dominique La Rue in 1989's Harlem Nights, starring Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. In the film, Pryor's character, Harlem "Sugar" Ray, is the owner of an illegal casino, who contends with the pressures of vicious gangsters and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business in 1930s Harlem. Guy played the girlfriend of the group's nemesis, who set out to seduce and kill Murphy. Jasmine also had a role in the 1988 Spike Lee musical-drama film School Daze as Dina, a member of the light-skinned, straight-haired African American women of Gamma Ray (a women's auxiliary to the Gamma Phi Gamma fraternity). Jasmine also provided the voice of Sawyer Cat in the Warner Bros. animated film Cats Don't Dance. Jasmine Guy also appeared in Stoppin' at the Savoy. Jasmine Guy read as Mary Estes Peters in the 2003 HBO documentary, "Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narrative", the documentary premiered during Black History month. The slave narratives were based on the WPA slave interviews conducted during the 1930s with over two thousand former slaves.
In 2009, Guy performed in The People Speak (film) a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on Historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.[4] [edit] Stage
Guy has performed in several Broadway shows, appearing as Crow in The Wiz, Mickey in Leader of the Pack, Betty Rizzo in Grease and as Velma Kelly in Chicago.
On April 6, 2009, Playbill reported Guy would star in a True Colors Theatre Company production of Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky. Directed by Andrea Frye, the show is a last minute addition to the company's season and is set to open May 4 in Atlanta.[5] A surprise announcement, it comes on the heels of Guy's held-over run in True Colors' Miss Evers' Boys, which also starred TC Carson (Living Single).[6] [edit] Radio
The actress recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of books about Tupac Shakur. [edit] Discography [edit] AlbumsAlbum information Jasmine Guy Released: October 16, 1990 Label: Warner Bros. Catalog Number: 26021 Chart Peak: U.S. Pop #143, U.S. R&B #38, U.S. Heatseekers #32 RIAA Certification: None (168,000 copies sold to date) Singles: "Try Me", "Another Like My Lover", "Just Want to Hold You", "Don't Want Money"
[edit] SinglesYear Title Chart positions Album U.S. U.S. R&B 1990 "Try Me" - 14 Jasmine Guy 1991 "Another Like My Lover" 66 9 "Just Want to Hold You" (with James Ingram) 34 27 "Don't Want Money" - -
[edit] References ^ Born in 1962 per Intelius check of "Jasmine Guy" who lives in Los Angeles, CA giving age of 47 as of September 25, 2009. ^ Thompson, Kevin D. (2008). "Jasmine Guy: Flashback Friday - The star of "A Different World" on being Whitley, her impending divorce, and growing up biracial". Essence. ^ Keck, William (September 15, 2009). "Jasmine Guy Vamps It Up". TV Guide Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2010. ^ http://www.thepeoplespeak.com/pages/credits/ ^ Hetrick, Adam (2009-04-06). "Jasmine Guy to Sing Blues for an Alabama Sky at True Colors". Playbill. Retrieved 2009-04-07. ^ Eldridge, Richard (2009-03-19). "Peach Buzz: A Sexy, Sudsy ‘Dream’ Assignment". Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Retrieved 2009-04-07.
