Tuesday, May 08, 2007

IS GOLDEN BROOKS NIGERIAN?

golden brooks, persia white and tracee ellis ross in girlfriends


One faithful FG2BH reader sent me this interesting tidbit about the ethnicity of actress Golden Brooks of "Girlfriends" fame:

Golden Brooks

I bolded the important subject matter:

There's more to Golden Brooks than meets the eye. For starters, the San Francisco native's strong acting prowess is evident with her portrayal of Maya Wilkes -- the ghetto-centric, loud-mouthed soul sister who shakes up the scene every week in the groundbreaking TV sitcom 'Girlfriends.' Brooks, who has played the role since its inception eight years ago, is nothing like her screen persona, however.
Reared in Lagos, Nigeria, the thirty-something (more on age below) thespian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology with a minor in Theater from the University of California at Berkeley.
A classically trained dancer who is also a classically trained actress has performed all over the world and has taken on a broad variety of roles from Chekov to Shakespeare. She holds a Master's Degree* in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College but maintains she did NOT attend the ritzy women's college during they heyday of other famous black sitcom actresses Robin Givens or Holly Robinson Peete. "Chile, you know she's ten years older than me?," Brooks deadpans about Givens. "Yeah, she's older than me. But I went there way, way, way after her." Well since she brought up the subject of age, I dare to ask what's hers. "I'm 30," she states defiantly and then elaborates, "My IMDB is all wrong. I'm in the process of getting that changed. I had an old publicist a long time ago put that in the wrong year, but I'm 30 and I'll be turning 31 in December." Well since we're in a joke-y mood, I join in on the fun and blurt out "The last time you saw 30, you were standing on 130th Street." Unfazed, Brooks said "Thank you," then broke out into laughter and proclaimed, "That's hilarious." "It's hard to say that in Hollywood," she continued the chatter. "Anything with a three in front of it, you're like 'hmmmmmmmmmm.'

[AOL Black Voices]


Golden Brooks with the cast of GIRLFRIENDS

Apparently Golden was raised in Nigeria. Apparently she has a Master's Degree like I do. So does this mean Golden's Naija (Nigerian)? Golden did emphasis on how her IMDB profile is all wrong:


-click on the image to visit Golden's official IMDB page-
Her cat is named Saeku. I'm Igbo so that doesn't sound nor look familar to me. Naija or not Golden Brooks is a talented actress. She's currently filming "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" for 2008 release. Read up on Golden's interview with Black Voices here.

girlfriends cast today


In an interview with MenMagazineOnline, Golden had this to say about "Girlfriends":

I hated it. Why do people have to compare something to something else white? Like Girlfriends being called a black Sex in the City because - why - we're four professional women talking about our woes of finding a man and maintaining our careers? We can stand on our own without the comparisons. No one compares The West Wing to a black anything … I'm very passionate about this and protective of my people.

11 comments:

Chi-Chi said...

My Naija brothers always seems to favor Golden. I'm glad she's FINALLY clearing facts about her as well as her IMDB profile page. Next to an offical website of a movie star, there's their IMDB page. I was hoping she would elaborate furthermore on this. FOLKS SPEAK ON IT...

Anonymous said...

Hey I read in an earlier article about her from the fresno bee that she was born in fresno then moved to nigeria when she was two. Where her father was a teacher over there.I'm not sure how long she lived there, but I don't think she is a native.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...
Well Naija or not Golden is one talented actress. I'm waiting on her to do another interview to clear this up. I wonder if she can speak a little bit of Naija from being there for awhile...

SET said...

INTERESTING, SHE IS THE FUNNIEST ON THE SHOW, I MISS TONI BUT HEY. THX

Anonymous said...

I met Toni last year at Broadway and she's one of the nicest known folks I met.

SET said...

LOVED TONI, BEAUTIFUL AND NICE, THAT IS A SIGN OF A CONFIDENT WOMAN.

Chi-Chi said...

Toni and Maya makes the show. At times Joan and her constant nagging/worrying gets old but Toni and Maya always add some humor to every scene. I hope this past Monday's season finale wasn't the SERIES finale.

Anonymous said...

PLEASE GOLDEN BROOKS IS NOT AFRICAN.
dONT PLAY WITH THAT LADY LIKE THAT. sHE WOULD HAVE SAID SHE IS FROM AFRICA BUT APPARENTLY SHE ISNT. STOP ASSUMING THAT PEOPLE ARE WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE. THATS HOW RUMORS GET STARTED. SHE IS FROM AMERICA JUST LIKE THE REST OF THEM.

Anonymous said...

golden brooks is not nigerian.
I dont know where you people get your info from but please stop assuming.
Thats whats wrong with yall now!
yall always saying something thats not true.And yes she wouldve said something by now. So obviously she isnt!

Anonymous said...

golden brooks is a very good actress and she is also sexy. i like the way she talks on the show girlfriends and i like the part that she took because the part suits her.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what the snobby bitch is, but in her mind she is a valley white girl. She acts whiter than some of my white friends.