Nicole Ari Parker

Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995) and went on to appear in Boogie Nights (1997), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe
Parker in December 2010
Born	October 7, 1970 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma mater	New York University
Occupation	Actress, model
Years active	1991–present
Spouse(s)	Boris Kodjoe (m. 2005)
Children	2

Parker has starred in a number of movies, including Blue Streak (1999), Remember the Titans (2000), Brown Sugar (2002), Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008), Black Dynamite (2009), and Almost Christmas (2016). On television, Parker played the leading role of attorney Teri Joseph (later Carter) in the Showtime drama series Soul Food (2000–04), for which she received five NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series nominations. She also starred in the short-lived UPN romantic comedy Second Time Around (2004–05) and the ABC drama Time After Time (2017). In 2017, she joined the cast of Fox's prime-time soap opera Empire playing Giselle Barker. She currently appears as a recurring character in Chicago P.D. as Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller.

Early years

Parker was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the only child of her divorced parents, health care professional Susan Parker and dentist Donald Parker.[1] After briefly attending a Montessori school, Parker entered Roland Park Country School, where she stayed through high school.[2] At the age of 17, she won Best Actress in the state of Maryland's high school theater competition. She became a member of The Washington Ballet Company before earning an acting degree in 1993 from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[3]

Career

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.

After a string of odd jobs (including scooping ice cream), bit roles, and low-wage theater work, Parker was offered her breakthrough role on Soul Food. In several episodes of the series, she was able to show her singing abilities, which also served her well in roles as singers on an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and in the movie Divas.

Parker also had a lead role in the 1998 film Exiled: A Law & Order Movie. She worked alongside Martin Lawrence in two of his films: Blue Streak and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. On Broadway she played Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Parker was lead actress in the 2013 NBC drama pilot Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives, and later had a recurring role on Revolution. In 2014, she starred as a series regular in the first season of the TNT crime drama Murder in the First, opposite Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson.[4]

In 2017, she joined the popular and award-winning Fox series Empire, playing Giselle Barker in a recurring role during the fourth season. She has been promoted to a series regular for the fifth season.[5][6]

Personal life

Parker eloped with actor Joseph Falasca in March 2001. Their marriage lasted only eight months; they divorced later that year. She married her Soul Food co-star Boris Kodjoe on May 21, 2005, in Gundelfingen, Germany. She gave birth to their first child, Sophie, on March 5, 2005. Sophie has spina bifida, which was diagnosed at birth.[7] Parker gave birth to the couple's second child, a son, in October 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The family attends the Cascade United Methodist Church when in Atlanta.[8]

Parker is an active member of the Democratic Party.[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Other Women's Children	Marcelle
1995	Stonewall	Female Draft Officer
1995	The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love	Evie Roy
1995	Divas	Stephanie
1996	Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault	Wanda
1997	The End of Violence	Ade
1997	Subway Stories	Sharon	Segment: "Honey-Getter"
1997	Boogie Nights	Becky Barnett
1998	Spark	Nina
1998	The Adventures of Sebastian Cole	Jenny
1998	Exiled: A Law & Order Movie	Georgeanne Taylor	TV movie
1999	200 Cigarettes	Bridget
1999	Mute Love	Mavis
1999	Mind Prey	Weather Karkinnon
1999	Mirar Mirror	Denise Scott
1999	Loving Jezebel	Frances
1999	Harlem Aria	Clarisse
1999	A Map of the World	Sherry
1999	Blue Streak	Melissa Green
2000	The Loretta Claiborne Story	Christine Claiborne
2000	Dancing in September	Tomasina 'Tommy' Crawford
2000	Remember the Titans	Carol Boone
2002	Brown Sugar	Reese Marie Wiggam Ellis
2005	King's Ransom	Angela Drake
2008	Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins	Lucinda Allen
2009	Black Dynamite	Mahogany Black
2009	Imagine That	Trish
2009	Pastor Brown	Tonya Copeland Brown
2011	35 and Ticking	Zenobia
2012	Vipaka	Sophie
2014	Repentance	Sophie Sanchez
2016	Almost Christmas	Sonya Meyers
2018	How It Ends	Paula Sutherland

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999–2000	Cosby	Rebecca	3 episodes
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Lillie Iv	Episode: "Primum Non Nocere"
2003	The System	Linda Evans	Series regular (9 episodes)
2004	All of Us	Traci Garrison	Episode: "Playdate"
2000–2004	Soul Food	Teri Joseph	Series regular (74 episodes)
2004–2005	Second Time Around	Ryan Muse	Series regular (13 episodes)
2008	Never Better	Allison	Pilot
2010	The Deep End	Susan Oppenheim	Series regular (6 episodes)
2011	Big Mike	Grace Peterson	Pilot
2013	Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives	Paula	Pilot
2013	Real Husbands of Hollywood	Herself	5 episodes
2013	Revolution	Justine Allenford	8 episodes
2014	Murder in the First	Jacqueline Perez	Series regular (9 episodes)
2015	The Boris & Nicole Show	Herself/Co-host	25 episodes
2015–2016	Rosewood	Kat Crawford[10]	Recurring role
2017	Time After Time	Vanessa Anders	Recurring role
2017-2020	Empire	Giselle Barker	Recurring role (Season 4) Main role (Season 5-6)
2018	The Romanoffs	Cheryl Gowans
2018	I'm Dying Up Here	Gloria	5 episodes
2019	Lip Sync Battle	Herself	Episode: "Boris Kodjoe vs. Nicole Ari Parker"
2020	Chicago P.D.	Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller [11]	Recurring role (Season 8)

Accolades

Awards and nominations for acting

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1998	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	Boogie Nights	Nominated
2001	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Remember the Titans	Nominated
2001		Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series	Soul Food	Nominated
2002		Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series	Soul Food	Nominated
2003		Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Brown Sugar	Nominated
2003		Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series	Soul Food	Nominated
2004		Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series	Soul Food	Nominated
2005		Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series	Soul Food	Nominated

References

1. Kam Williams (2004). "Nicole Reflects on Real Life Role As Mommy-to-Be". DallasBlack.com. Archived from the original on 2011-01-29. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
2. Sragow, Michael (12 June 2009). "City-bred Actress' Role In Kids' Film Reflects Grown-up Realities". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
3. Sragow, Michael (12 June 2009). "Nicole Ari Parker's role in kids' movie reflects grown-up realities". The Baltimore Sun.
4. Lesley Goldberg (January 22, 2014). "TNT's 'Murder in the First' Adds 'Revolution' Alum". The Hollywood Reporter.
5. Andreeva, Nellie (25 June 2018). "'Empire': Nicole Ari Parker Upped To Series Regular For Season 5 Of Fox Drama". Retrieved 6 January 2019.
6. Swift, Andy (25 June 2018). "Empire Promotes Nicole Ari Parker to Series Regular for Season 5". Retrieved 6 January 2019.
7. Boris and Nicole Open Up About Sophie's Spina Bifida, Celebrity Babies Blog, 15 January 2009.
8. Rhone, Nedra; and Gracie Bonds Staples. "In Atlanta’s churches, prayers for president-elect", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9 November 2008.
9. Hawkins, B. Denise (September 6, 2012). "Youth Summit Brings Democratic National Convention Spirit to Johnson C. Smith". Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
10. Andreeva, Nellie (July 20, 2015). "Nicole Ari Parker To Recur On Fox's Rosewood". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
11. https://www.tvguide.com/news/chicago-pd-season-8-premiere-date-spoilers-everything-we-know/

External links

• Nicole Ari Parker at IMDb
• Nicole Ari Parker on Twitter