Lydia Nicole

Last updated
Lydia Nicole
Born
Lydia Fernandez
Education Fordham University
UCLA
Occupation(s)Actress, comedian, writer, producer
Known forCommon Sense Mamita
Height5 ft 4 in (163 cm)

Lydia Nicole (born Lydia Fernandez) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer based out of Los Angeles, California. Her career in the entertainment industry began in 1972 with the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation at New York City R&B station, WBLS-FM. In 1981, she made her debut as an actress guest starring on The Greatest American Hero . Nicole is best known for her role as Rafaela in Stand and Deliver , and her current project, web series Common Sense Mamita.

Contents

Early life and education

Nicole grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York City. [1] From 13 to 18 years old, she worked for radio station WBLS-FM, New York as assistant music director. [2] That experience brought her to California to work for Casablanca Records, a premier disco record company.[ citation needed ]

Nicole studied theater at Fordham University in New York City before moving to Hollywood. Once in California, she was part of the UCLA Writer's Program and studied with acting coaches Roy London and Stella Adler, as well as Broadway director Jose Quintero.[ citation needed ]

Current work

Common Sense Mamita

Common Sense Mamita is a comedic web series written, produced and hosted by Nicole. The show premiered on Latin Heat Entertainment in 2013 [3] and has run weekly every Thursday since. [4]

Career

Nicole entered show business at the number one R&B radio station in New York City, WBLS-FM. From 1973 to 1978, she worked with radio icons Hal Jackson, Frankie Crocker and Wanda Ramos under Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. At 18, Nicole became ICBC's youngest assistant music director.[ citation needed ]

In Los Angeles, Nicole worked under record mogul, Jheryl Busby and managed R&B recording artist Patrice Rushen's fan club. In 1981, she resumed her position with ICBC as music director for two California based stations, KGFJ-AM and KUTE-FM. Under Nicole's guidance, KGFJ-AM became the top R&B and Hip Hop station in Los Angeles.[ citation needed ]

Nicole landed her first role on television in 1981 when she guest starred in The Greatest American Hero . She made appearances in shows such as Hill Street Blues (1981) and The Fall Guy (1981), and movies like Murder in Texas (1981). In a 1983 issue of Ebony Magazine, Nicole was named one of the "New Faces in Hollywood". [5] In 1982, she appeared in a two-part episode of The Jeffersons as gang leader, Rachel, who robs and stabs George Jefferson. She then landed the role as Rafaela costarring with Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver .

Actress Filmography
YearTitleRoleDirector
1981 The Greatest American Hero
1981 Murder in Texas Nurse PollardBilly Hale
1981 Hill Street Blues Girl/rape victimRanda Haines
1982 The Jeffersons RachelBob Lally
1982HoneyboySoledadJohn Barry
1983 Max Dugan Returns Celia Herbert Ross
1984Shattered VowsNunJack Bender
1984 The Fall Guy
1985A Death in CaliforniaDeloresDelbert Mann
1985 Hell Town - TV series MiloDon Medford
1987Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night LadiesIsabel Paul Wendkos
1987 Hollywood Shuffle Make-up woman Robert Townsend (actor)
1988 Stand and Deliver Rafaela Fuentes Ramón Menéndez
1989 Thirtysomething JanetPeter Horton
1990 Cop Rock Miriam HernandezGregory Hoblit
1993Rock the Vote
1993 Indecent Proposal Citizenship student Adrian Lyne
1994Stranger By NightHooker #1Gregory Brown
1998 Martial Law - TV series MariaJohn Kretchmer
2000RaveRosaRon Krauss
2001 10 Attitudes ClaireMichael Gallant
2006Sweet Deadly DreamsDetective RodriguezWalter Stewart
2013Common Sense MamitaHostess
2014Latinas Chat Media
2015Absolutely Jason Stuart

[6]

By 1988, Nicole took up comedy in the Latino standup world. [7] She was one of very few Latinas on the comedy circuit and a regular at the World Famous Comedy Store. She also opened for her former employer, R&B singer Patrice Rushen. In 1993, Nicole was featured on BET's Comic View. In 1991, the lack of racial and gender diversity in stand up prompted Nicole to co-find "Funny Ladies of Color" [8] with comic Cha Cha Sandoval and agent Sharona Fae. The group was composed of women of color including Sherri Shepherd, Jackie Guerra, Dyana Ortelli, Lotus Weinstock and Carlease Burke. She also co-founded "The Hot & Spicy Mamitas", [9] the first all female Latina stand up comedy show, featuring Sully Diaz, Marilyn Martinez, Ludo Vika and Dyana Ortelli. Together, they released a stand up comedy album on Uproar Records. [10] [11] The group was mentioned in Darryl J. Littleton and Tuezdae Littleton's book, Comediennes: Laugh Be a Lady along with female comedians Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Lucille Ball, and Margaret Cho. [12]

Nicole took her standup and created her first one-woman show entitled "Calling Up Papi" at the World Famous Comedy Store [13] in which she performs the roles of 26 characters.

Other ventures

Nicole co-produced comedy shows "Funny Ladies of Color" and the "Hot & Spicy Mamitas", and also wrote, produced and starred in her second one-woman show, A Rose Grows in Spanish Harlem. [14] Starting in 1985, Nicole began working alongside filmmaker Robert Townsend" on the movie Hollywood Shuffle (1988). She worked with him again in 2002 on film and web series productions. She started as a basic assistant and became associate producer of Code Black Entertainment's Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy , Los Americans , and In the Hive . [14] In 2015, she produced Townsend's film Playin' for Love , a romantic comedy film with Townsend Entertainment. [15]

Philanthropy

From 1991 to 2002, Nicole took her childhood story Calling up Papi to high schools across the country and youth authorities around Southern California in an effort to promote the importance of education to inner city kids and juvenile offenders. [16]

She spoke for various organizations such as Athletes and Entertainers For Kids, The Ryan White program, Kareem's Kids and Kathy Ireland's Mother's and Daughter's Tea.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Arden</span> American actress (1908–1990)

Eve Arden was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatyana Ali</span> American actress and singer

Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996. She starred as Tyana Jones on the TV One original series Love That Girl!, and played a recurring role as Roxanne on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 2007 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Buzzi</span> American actress and comedian (born 1936)

Ruth Ann Buzzi is a retired American actress and comedian. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received five Emmy nominations.

Sommore is an American comedian and actress. Known as the "Diva of Contemporary Comedy," her comedic style features biting sarcasm and frank discussions about money, sex, and equality between the sexes. She first gained fame as the first female host of the long-running Black Entertainment Television (BET) stand-up showcase ComicView, as well as one of the four female comedians that headlined The Queens of Comedy tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackée Harry</span> American actress

Jacqueline Yvonne Harry is an American actress, comedian, and television personality. She is known for her starring roles as Sandra Clark, the nemesis of Mary Jenkins, on the NBC TV series 227 (1985–1990), and as Lisa Landry on the ABC/The WB sitcom Sister, Sister (1994–1999). She is noted for being the first African-American to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LaWanda Page</span> American actress and comedian (1920–2002)

LaWanda Page was an American actress, comedian, and dancer whose career spanned six decades. Crowned "The Queen of Comedy" or "The Black Queen of Comedy", Page melded blue humor, signifyin', and observational comedy to jokes about sexuality, race relations, African-American culture, and religion. She released five solo albums, including the 1977 gold-selling Watch It, Sucker!. She also collaborated on two albums with comedy group Skillet, Leroy & Co. As an actress, Page is best known for portraying the Bible-toting and sharp-tongued "Aunt" Esther Anderson in the popular television sitcom Sanford and Son, which originally aired from 1972 until 1977. Page later reprised this role in the short-lived television shows Sanford Arms (1976–1977) and Sanford (1980–1981). She also co-starred in the 1979 short-lived series Detective School. Throughout her career, Page advocated for fair pay and equal opportunities for Black performers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Gonzalo</span> Argentine actress

Julieta Susana "Julie" Gonzalo is an Argentine and American actress. On television, she has played Parker Lee on Veronica Mars, Maggie Dekker on Eli Stone (2008–2009), Pamela Rebecca Barnes on the soap opera Dallas (2012–2014) and Andrea Rojas on Supergirl (2019–2021). She has appeared in films such as Freaky Friday (2003), Dodgeball (2004), A Cinderella Story (2004) and Christmas with the Kranks (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kym Whitley</span> American comedian and actress (born 1962)

Kym Whitley is an American comedian, actress, and podcaster. She is known for her roles on television sitcoms, such as My Brother and Me, Sparks, Animal Practice, The Boondocks, Young & Hungry, The Parkers, The Cleveland Show, Black Dynamite, and Act Your Age. Whitley was nominated for a 2004 BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Box Office Movie for her role as Ormandy in the 2003 comedy film Deliver Us From Eva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Hardwick</span> American comedian and actor (born 1971)

Christopher Ryan Hardwick is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts Talking Dead, an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, as well as Talking with Chris Hardwick, a show in which Hardwick interviews prominent pop culture figures, and The Wall, a plinko-inspired gameshow on NBC, Hardwick created Nerdist Industries, operator of the Nerdist Podcast Network and home of his podcast The Nerdist Podcast, which later left the network and was renamed to ID10T with Chris Hardwick. His podcast has broadcast 1,000 episodes as of December 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valery Ortiz</span> Puerto Rican actress

Valery Milagros Ortiz is a Puerto Rican actress and model. She has appeared in various television series including South of Nowhere (2005–2008), Diary of a Single Mom (2009–2011), Hit the Floor (2013–2016) and Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (2019–2021). Ortiz has also appeared in films including Date Movie (2006), Dumbbells (2014) and Thriller (2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abigail Spencer</span> American actress (born 1981)

Abigail Leigh Spencer is an American actress. She began her career playing Rebecca Tyree on the ABC daytime television soap opera All My Children (1999–2001) before going on to star in the Lifetime crime drama series, Angela's Eyes (2006). She also had recurring roles on Mad Men (2009), Hawthorne (2009–2011), Suits (2011–2019), and Grey's Anatomy (2017–2022). From 2013 to 2016, Spencer starred as Amantha Holden in the SundanceTV drama series Rectify, for which she received a nomination for a Critics' Choice Television Award. From 2016 to 2018, Spencer starred as history professor Lucy Preston in the NBC science-fiction series Timeless. Spencer has appeared in numerous films, such as In My Sleep (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), This Means War (2012), Chasing Mavericks (2012), The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and This Is Where I Leave You (2014).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenji Kohan</span> American television writer, producer, and director

Jenji Leslie Kohan is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds and the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. She has received nine Emmy Award nominations, winning one as supervising producer of the comedy series Tracey Takes On....

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiffany Haddish</span> American comedian and actress (born 1979)

Tiffany Ronelia Haddish is an American stand-up comedian and actress. Her breakthrough came in with a leading role in the comedy film Girls Trip (2017), which earned her several accolades and was included on The New Yorker's list of the best film performances of the 21st century. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2018, and The Hollywood Reporter listed her among the 100 most powerful people in entertainment in both 2018 and 2019.

Abigail Elliott is an American actress, comedian, and impressionist. Elliott is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2012. Since her departure from SNL, she has starred on the Bravo comedy Odd Mom Out, NBC sitcom Indebted and the Hulu comedy drama series The Bear. She is the daughter of Chris Elliott and sister of Bridey Elliott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dyana Williams</span> American radio broadcaster

Dyana Williams, a native New Yorker, is a radio and music industry professional, journalist, community activist, artist development and media coach, and documentarian, as well as the founder of Influence Entertainment and co-founder of the Pennsylvania-based non-profit advocacy organization, the International Association of African American Music Foundation.

Jen Richards is an American writer, actress, producer, and activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelina Fernandez</span> American dramatist

Evelina Fernández is an American playwright and actress from Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hot & Spicy Mamitas</span>

The Hot & Spicy Mamitas were an American Latino comedy group based out of Los Angeles, California. The group included comedians Debi Guttierez, Sully Diaz, Marilyn Martinez, Lydia Nicole, Ludo Vika, and later, Dyana Ortelli. In 1994, these women joined forces and became the first all female Latina comedy group. They were instrumental in creating social change through comedy which benefitted both the female, and Latino minorities.

<i>Loosely Exactly Nicole</i> American TV series or program

Loosely Exactly Nicole is an American comedy streaming television series created by Christian Lander and Christine Zander that stars Nicole Byer and premiered on September 5, 2016, on MTV. After MTV cancelled the series, Facebook Watch picked up the show for a second season that premiered on December 20, 2017.

Jenni Ruiza is a Latina producer, actress, comedian, and writer from Bronx, New York. She was the co-founder of Comedy High, a comedy production company. She was also a co-host of Fixxx Podcast.

References

  1. ↑ Cilantro, Spicy (2012-11-05). "Politicizing Rape Inflicts More Injury to Victims". Spicy Cilantro. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  2. ↑ "The American Latina: September 2010". Theamericanlatina.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  3. ↑ "Lydia Nicole's "Common Sense Mamita" Vlog Exclusive On Latin Heat Channel | LatinHeat Entertainment". Latinheat.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  4. ↑ Engine, Pitch. "Actress/Comedienne LYDIA NICOLE Returns with Spicy Season Three of Popular Vlog 'COMMON SENSE MAMITA'". Local news, local events and what's happening around Australia. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  5. ↑ Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. 1983-04-01.
  6. ↑ "The Paley Center for Media". The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  7. ↑ "Crossing The Line". Entertainingdiversity.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  8. ↑ "Archives". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  9. ↑ KARLIN, SUSAN (1999-03-15). "It's Loco Emotion With Latina Comics". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  10. ↑ "Sully Diaz, Dyana Ortelli, Lydia Nicole, Marilyn Martinez, Ludo Vika – "The Hot & Spicy Mamitas" | Uproar Entertainment". Uproarcomedycd.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  11. ↑ "Hot and Spicy Mamitas". Audiobooks.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  12. ↑ Littleton, Darryl J.; Littleton, Tuezdae (2012-09-01). Comediennes: Laugh Be a Lady. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN   9781480329744.
  13. ↑ "A must see! - Puerto Rico Discussion Forum". Puertorico.com. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  14. 1 2 "The Rose of Spanish Harlem, Actress & Executive LYDIA NICOLE". Heralddeparis.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  15. ↑ "Multi-Talented LYDIA NICOLE Produces Positive Message with ROBERT TOWNSEND's "PLAYIN' FOR LOVE" : Spotlight PR Company". Pitchengine.com. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  16. ↑ "Actress Lydia Nicole on Her Long Hollywood Career". Film Slate Magazine: Your Hub for Moviemaking Tips and the Insightful Commentary on Indie Film, Television and Hollywood. 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.