Monica Calhoun

Monica Calhoun (born July 29, 1971)^[3] is an American film and television actress. Calhoun is best known for her roles in the films Bagdad Cafe (1987), The Players Club (1998),^[4] The Salon (2005), The Best Man (1999),^[5] and its sequel The Best Man Holiday (2013). She has also appeared in the films Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) and Love & Basketball (2000). Calhoun has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award and one NAACP Image Award.

Monica Calhoun
Born	(1971-07-29) July 29, 1971 (age 53)[1] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1985–present
Known for	Mia Morgan – The Best Man, The Best Man Holiday Ebony – The Players Club
Height	5 ft 4.5 in (163.8 cm)[2]
Children	1

Biography

Early life and education

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,^[1] Calhoun is the daughter of Lorine Calhoun.^[6] She moved to California in the late 1970s, and began acting while in sixth grade.^[7] Calhoun attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.^[8]

Career

Calhoun made her acting debut in the 1985 TV film Children of the Night as Wanda.^[9] She portrayed Phyllis, the daughter of CCH Pounder's character, in Bagdad Cafe (1987).^[10] Calhoun was the only actor in Bagdad Cafe to return for the television series,^[11] albeit the character's name was changed to Debbie.^[12] The televised adaptation lasted two seasons before being cancelled.

She portrayed Rebbie Jackson in the 1992 biopic miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream.^[13] In 1993, she had a minor role in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit^[14] and acted in the Disney Channel film The Ernest Green Story alongside Morris Chestnut.^[15] Calhoun received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the CBS Schoolbreak Special "Different Worlds: A Story of Interracial Love" (1993).^[16] Calhoun co-starred with actor Flex Alexander in the short-lived series, Where I Live, and appeared in Pacific Station.

Calhoun guest starred in several sitcoms including The Wayans Bros., A Different World and The Jamie Foxx Show, the latter as Jamie Foxx's sister.^[17] She appeared as Linda, one of the daughters of Donald Thornton in television film The Ditchdigger's Daughters (1997).^[18] Calhoun played the role of Ebony, a stripper,^[19] in Ice Cube's directorial debut The Players Club (1998).

She appeared in the lead role, Reese Delaware, in Intimate Betrayal (1999).^[20] In Love & Basketball (2000), she portrayed Kerry, a girlfriend of the basketball playing protagonist.^[21] In 2002, Calhoun appeared in Trois 2: Pandora's Box as psychologist Dr. Mia DuBois^[22] and portrayed Wet in Civil Brand.^[23] Calhoun played Rachel in the Western Gang of Roses (2003).^[24]

Calhoun portrayed Mia, the wife of Morris Chestnut's character, in The Best Man (1999).^[25] She received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture in 2000 for her performance.^[26] She returned in its sequel The Best Man Holiday (2013).^[27] In the latter, Mia is terminally ill and dies at the end of the film.^[28]

She played the role of Brenda in 2007's The Salon starring Vivica Fox.^[29] In 2009, Robert Townsend directed Calhoun in Diary of a Single Mom, Season I, II and III (2008–10).^[30] Calhoun appeared as Patricia Tresvant, Ralph's mother in The New Edition Story miniseries which aired on the BET network in January 2017.^[31]

Personal

Calhoun gave birth to a son in 2000. Her son is blind.^[32][33][34]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Children of the Night	Wanda	TV movie
1987	Bagdad Cafe	Phyllis
1989	Heart and Soul	Janet	TV movie
1991	She Stood Alone	Eliza Hammond	TV movie
1993	The Ernest Green Story	Minnijean Brown	TV movie
	Jack the Bear	Sondra
	Younger and Younger	Jaime-Lee
	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Classroom Kid
1996	Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault	Evonne	TV movie
1997	The Ditchdigger's Daughters	Linda	TV movie
	Damn Whitey	Young Woman	Short
1998	The Players Club	Ebony
	Park Day	Tamala Davis
1999	The Best Man	Mia Morgan
	Intimate Betrayal	Reese Delaware	TV movie
2000	Love & Basketball	Kerry
	Nature Boy	Maria Cole	TV movie
2001	Faux Pas	-
2002	Turnaround	Cammy
	Civil Brand	Wet
	Trois 2: Pandora's Box	Dr. Mia DuBois
2003	Love Chronicles	Maya
	Gang of Roses	Rachel
2004	Justice	Sharice
2005	The Salon	Brenda
	Friends and Lovers	Debra	Video
2013	The Best Man Holiday	Mia M. Sullivan
2016	Everything But A Man	Vanessa
	No Regrets	Nina Thomas
2020	Leroy	Joey
2023	Deadly Entanglement	Deidra

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Vonette	Episode: "15 and Getting Straight"
1990–91	Bagdad Cafe	Debbie	Main Cast
1992	The Jacksons: An American Dream	Rebbie Jackson	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Carol	Episode: "Different Worlds: A Story of Interracial Love"
1993	A Different World	Yolanda	Episode: "Homey, Don't Ya Know Me?"
	Where I Live	Kaiya	Episode: "Big Mon on Campus"
1994	Sweet Justice	Kara	Episode: "Fourth Quarter"
1995	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Temple Baham	Episode: "What About Your Friends"
1996	The Wayans Bros.	Vanessa	Episode: "Unbrotherly Love"
1997	Good News	Cynthia Porter	Episode: "Try a Little Tenderness"
1998	The Jamie Foxx Show	Kim	Episode: "Swing Out Sister"
2000	Malcolm & Eddie	Helena	Episode: "Moving Violations"
2003	NYPD Blue	Denise Woodson	Episode: "I Kid You Not"
	Strong Medicine	Paige Wheeler	Episode: "Coming Clean"
2006	Grey's Anatomy	Mrs. Wood	Episode: "Break on Through"
	Everybody Hates Chris	Charlotte	Episode: "Everybody Hates Funerals"
2007	Dirt	Chelle	Episode: "Pilot"
2008	Cold Case	Phoebe Curtis (1989)	Episode: "Triple Threat"
2009–11	Diary of a Single Mom	Ocean	Main Cast
2017	The New Edition Story	Patricia Tresvant	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
2022	The Best Man: The Final Chapters	Mia Sullivan	Recurring Cast

References

1. "Monica Calhoun". Hollywood.com. Hollywood. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
2. "Monica Calhoun Height Weight Measurements". Pikastar. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
3. My Heritage - Monica Calhoun
4. Pimp's Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women. NYU Press. 2003. ISBN 9780814741221. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
5. Magazine, JET (October 25, 1999). "Friends Reunite For A Wedding And Scandalous Secrets Are Revealed in "The Best Man"". Google Books. Johnson Publishing Company. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
6. L.A. Blues. Urban Books. 2002. ISBN 9781599831985. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
7. Waldron, David Brian (January 22, 1995). "A different world: Special puts a unique shade on teen-age trials". The Boca Raton News. p. 7.
8. Hamilton, Denise (May 12, 1991). "Different Drummer : Reading, Writing and Rhythm Merge at Arts High School". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
9. Parish, James Robert (1992). Prostitution in Hollywood Films. McFarland & Company. p. 78. ISBN 9780899506777.
10. Rauch Klotman, Phyllis; Gibson, Gloria J. (1997). Frame by Frame II: A Filmography of the African American Image, 1978-1994. Indiana University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780253211200.
11. Burlingame, Jon (March 30, 1990). "'Full House' carries a message tonight". Times-News. p. 23.
12. "Whoopi Goldberg And Jean Stapleton: Actresses Star In TV's New 'Bagdad Cafe'". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. April 23, 1990. p. 59.
13. Terrace, Vincent (September 22, 2021). Encyclopedia of Television Miniseries, 1936-2020. McFarland & Company. p. 103. ISBN 9781476687353.
14. McArt, Nora (January 21, 1995). "Kids Shows: The importance of friendship". Lawrence Journal-World.
15. Fearn-Banks, Kathleen; Burford-Johnson, Anne (October 3, 2014). Historical Dictionary of African American Television. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 215. ISBN 9780810879171.
16. Lowry, Brian (March 31, 1993). "CBS tops Daytime Emmy noms". Variety. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
17. "Highlights". Boca Raton News. June 6, 1999. p. 41.
18. Lee, Misti C. (December 12, 1996). "Step back in time this holiday". Star-News. p. 5D.
19. Kagan, Norman (August 15, 2018). Understanding Comedy Through College Comedies. Hamilton Books. p. 123. ISBN 9780761870630.
20. Thomas McClauskey, Audrey (2007). Frame by Frame III: A Filmography of the African Diasporan Image, 1994-2004. Indiana University Press. p. 376. ISBN 9780253348296.
21. Edgington, K.; Erskine, Thomas; Welsh, James M. (December 29, 2010). Encyclopedia of Sports Films. Scarecrow Press. p. 298. ISBN 9780810876538.
22. "Rainforest Films to release 'Pandora's Box' in August". Indianapolis Recorder. p. C1.
23. Monush, Barry; Willis, John (June 2005). Screen World: 2004 Film Annual. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 195. ISBN 9781557836397.
24. Varner, Paul (September 15, 2009). The A to Z of Westerns in Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 99.
25. Carr, Jay (October 25, 1999). "Lee's 'Best Man' is cause to celebrate". Star-News. p. 4D.
26. "NAACP announces Image Award nominees". The Michigan Daily. December 2, 1999. p. 13B.
27. Farber, Stephen (November 13, 2013). "The Best Man Holiday: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
28. Spitz, Marc (December 4, 2014). "Entries in the Silver Bell Sweepstakes". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
29. Catsoulis, Jeannette (May 10, 2007). "Cutting Hair and Cutting Remarks". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
30. Reeves, Ronke Idowu (February 10, 2014). "Monica Calhoun: "I Heard They Are Doing a Third Best Man Film"". BET.
31. Petski, Denise (May 5, 2016). "La La Anthony, Yvette Nicole Brown, Monica Calhoun Among Five Cast In 'New Edition: The Movie' On BET". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
32. Ebony Magazine (March 2001). "Celebrity Parents". Google Books. Johnson Publishing Company. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
33. Live Ramp Up - Film actress Monica Calhoun son and brothers' illness - November 6, 2016
34. Ebony Magazine (May 2001). "The New Motherhood". Google Books. Johnson Publishing Company. Retrieved December 15, 2017.

External links

• Monica Calhoun at IMDb
• Monica Calhoun at AllMovie