Monica Denise Arnold is an American singer, rapper and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and joined a traveling gospel choir by the age of ten. Monica signed with record producer Dallas Austin through his label Rowdy Records in 1993, and gained prominence following the release of her debut studio album, Miss Thang (1995). Her follow up releases were met with further commercial success; her second, The Boy Is Mine (1998) remains her best-selling album and spawned three Billboard Hot 100-number one singles: "The Boy Is Mine", "The First Night" and "Angel of Mine".
200 Cigarettes is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Risa Bramon Garcia and written by Shana Larsen. The film follows multiple characters in New York City on New Year's Eve 1981. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of brothers Ben and Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Díaz, Angela Featherstone, Janeane Garofalo, Gaby Hoffmann, Kate Hudson, Courtney Love, Jay Mohr, Nicole Ari Parker, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci and Paul Rudd, with a cameo by Elvis Costello, as well as paintings by Sally Davies.
Posse is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast, the film tells the story of a posse of African-American soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The story starts with the group escaping with a cache of gold, and continues with their leader Jesse Lee taking revenge on the men who killed his preacher father. The story is presented as a flashback told by an unnamed old man. The title of the film refers to a group of people who are summoned to help law enforcement officers. This film was the first film to be released by Gramercy Pictures.
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe 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.
Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe is a German actor and former model best known for his roles as Kelby in the 2002 film Brown Sugar, the sports-courier agent Damon Carter on the Showtime drama series Soul Food, Dr. Will Campbell on CBS's Code Black and a recurring character on FOX's The Last Man on Earth. He co-stars on BET's Real Husbands of Hollywood and the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Station 19 as Robert Sullivan.
Salli Richardson-Whitfield is an American actress and television director. Richardson is known for her role as Angela in the film A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) and for her role as Dr. Allison Blake on the Syfy comedy-drama series Eureka (2006–2012).
Soul Food is an American drama television series that aired on Showtime from June 28, 2000, to May 26, 2004. Developed for television by Felicia D. Henderson, the series was an adaptation of George Tillman Jr.'s 1997 film of the same name, which was based on his childhood experiences growing up in Wisconsin.
Heather Veitch is an American Christian missionary who worked previously as a stripper but now seeks to help women working in strip clubs leave the adult entertainment industry. She is the founder of the Christian ministry JC's Girls, based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Drew Sidora Jordan is an American actress and singer. She is known for her recurring role as Chantel in the Disney Channel Original Series That's So Raven, as Lucy Avila in the 2006 film Step Up, as Tionne Watkins in the VH1 TLC biographical film CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, and the BET comedy-drama television series The Game. She joined the cast of the Bravo reality show The Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2020.
Tasha Smith is an American actor, director and producer. She began her career in a starring role on the NBC comedy series Boston Common (1996–97), and she later appeared in numerous movies and television series.
Derek Blanks is an American photographer, illustrator, creative director, and producer.
JC's Girls is an evangelical Christian women's organization in the United States whose members evangelize to female workers in the sex industry. The organization supports women wishing to leave the industry, but does not try to persuade them to do so. The group does not focus upon conversion but rather on communicating its message that Christians exist who are not judging female sex workers and are willing to accept them. The organization also helps both women and men seeking to overcome pornography addiction.
Loving Jezebel is a 1999 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Kwyn Bader. The film stars Hill Harper, David Moscow, Laurel Holloman, Nicole Ari Parker, Sandrine Holt, Phylicia Rashad, Elisa Donovan and Lysa Aya Trenier. The film was released on October 27, 2000, by Universal Focus. The film tells the story of a young man who reminisces about his romantic misadventures.
God's Not Dead 2 is a 2016 American Christian drama film, directed by Harold Cronk, and starring Melissa Joan Hart, Jesse Metcalfe, David A. R. White, Hayley Orrantia and Sadie Robertson. It is a sequel to God's Not Dead (2014), and the second installment in the titular film series. Aside from David A.R. White reprising his role as Reverend David Hill, Paul Kwo, Benjamin Onyango, and Tricha LaFache also reprise their roles as Martin Yip, Reverend Jude, and Amy Ryan respectively. It follows a high school teacher facing a court case that could end her career, after having answered a student's seemingly innocuous question about Jesus. The film presents an evangelical perspective on the separation of church and state.
Almost Christmas is a 2016 American Christmas comedy-drama film written and directed by David E. Talbert and starring Kimberly Elise, Mo'Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, Gabrielle Union, Keri Hilson, Jessie Usher, Danny Glover, Omar Epps, John Michael Higgins, D. C. Young Fly, and Romany Malco. The film follows a dysfunctional family that comes together for the holidays for the first time since their mother's death.
Kings is a 2017 English-language drama film written and directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven. The film stars Halle Berry and Daniel Craig.
City of Lies is a 2018 crime thriller film about the investigations by the Los Angeles Police Department of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. It is directed by Brad Furman, with a screenplay by Christian Contreras based on the non-fiction book LAbyrinth by Randall Sullivan. The film stars Johnny Depp as retired LAPD detective Russell Poole and Forest Whitaker as journalist Jack Jackson, with Rockmond Dunbar and Neil Brown Jr. also starring.
The New Edition Story is an American biographical three-part miniseries about the R&B group New Edition, from their rise to fame as a boy band from the Orchard Park Projects of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to becoming a successful adult act. It was originally broadcast on BET from January 24 through January 26, 2017, becoming the network's first scripted miniseries. All six members of New Edition served as co-producers.
