Meagan Good Biography

Meagan Monique Good (born August 8, 1981) is an American film and television actress and occasional film producer. Beginning her career at the age of four, Good has appeared in numerous commercials, television shows, feature films, and music videos. In 2013, she played the lead role as Joanna Locasto on the NBC drama series Deception.

Early life and career

Good was born in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Tyra Wardlow-Doyle, worked as Good's manager into her teens, and her father, Leondis "Leon" Good, is an LAPD police officer. According to Good, her maternal grandmother is "Jewish and African, so I guess that would be considered Creole. My mother's father was Cherokee and something else. My dad's mother's Puerto Rican and black, and his father was from Barbados." Good was raised in Canyon Country (now known as Santa Clarita), California, with her three siblings. She began her acting career around the age of four. In the early stages of her career, Good started out doing work as an extra on television shows such as Doogie Howser, M.D. and Amen. When she was thirteen, Good was cast in her first film, the 1995 hit Friday. Good first began to gain recognition for her performance as troubled teen Cisely Batiste in Kasi Lemmons' critically acclaimed 1997 film Eve's Bayou, which earned Good two award nominations, including her first NAACP Image Award nomination.

Career as an adult

After taking on small film and television roles for the next few years, Good would begin to transition into more mature roles in the early 2000s. From 1999 to 2003, she appeared as Nina on Nickelodeon's hit show Cousin Skeeter. Good later took on small roles in the films 3 Strikes and House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute. 2003 proved to be a major year for Good, as she landed roles in the action-drama Biker Boyz and the romantic-comedy Deliver Us from Eva, which helped her transition from child to adult actress. Good also appeared as the character Vanessa for five episodes during the third season of My Wife and Kids, before being replaced by Brooklyn Sudano for unknown reasons. In 2004, Good starred alongside Jordana Brewster, Sara Foster, and Jill Ritchie in the action film D.E.B.S., and for her performance received a Best Actress nomination at the 2005 Black Movie Awards. She also had small roles in The Cookout, Lance "Un" Rivera's directorial debut, and the teen dance film You Got Served.

In 2005, Good co-starred in the horror film Venom as well as the well-received indie noir Brick. She then played opposite rapper/actor Bow Wow in Malcolm D. Lee's Roll Bounce. In 2006, Good took on the role of Coco, which she felt was her first true leading lady role, in the urban action-drama Waist Deep. Good also voiced a character for the video game Scarface: The World Is Yours that same year. The following year, Good landed a role in the dance movie Stomp the Yard, starring alongside Ne-Yo and childhood friend Columbus Short. In 2008, Good appeared in the horror film One Missed Call and the Mike Myers comedy The Love Guru, and in the latter half of the year could be seen in Saw V. Good also starred in 2009's The Unborn with Gary Oldman and Odette Yustman. Good's most recent role was in 2012's Think Like a Man, a movie based on Steve Harvey's 2009 book Act like a Lady, Think like a Man.

Good has also made appearances in many music videos, by artists such as 50 Cent, Imajin, Isyss (of which Good's sister La'Myia Good is a member), Lil' Johnny, Memphis Bleek, Tyrese, and Will Smith.

She has also started her own production company, Freedom Bridge Entertainment, with Marlon Olivera, and fellow actors Tamara Bass and Ty Hodges.

Personal life

Good currently lives in Studio City, California. Although she was not raised in the church, Good is a Christian, considers herself a very spiritual person and has stated in numerous interviews that she will not do roles that she feels might "disappoint God". She explained in an interview that Jesus tops her hero list and the last book she read was the Bible.

In early April 2012, Good became engaged to boyfriend DeVon Franklin, an executive for Columbia Pictures and a Seventh-day Adventist preacher. The two began dating in 2011 and were married on June 16, 2012, in Malibu, California.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Friday	Kid #2
1995	Make a Wish, Molly	Jenny
1997	Eve's Bayou	Cisely Batiste
1999	'	Kay
2000	3 Strikes	Buela Douglas
2001	House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute	Tina	Video
2003	Biker Boyz	Tina
2003	Deliver Us from Eva	Jacqui Dandridge
2003	Ride or Die	Fake Venus	Video
2004	D.E.B.S.	Max
2004	You Got Served	Beautifull
2004	'	Brittany
2005	Brick	Kara
2005	Venom	Cece
2005	Roll Bounce	Naomi Phillips
2006	Miles from Home	Natasha Freeman
2006	Waist Deep	Coco
2007	Stomp the Yard	April
2008	One Missed Call	Shelley Baum
2008	'	Prudence Roanoke
2008	Saw V	Luba
2009	'	Romy
2011	35 and Ticking	Falinda
2011	Jumping the Broom	Blythe
2011	Video Girl	Lorie
2012	LUV	Beverly
2012	Dysfunctional Friends	Ms. Stevens
2012	Think Like a Man	Mya
2012	Defeat the Label		Short film
2012	'	Tamika Jones
2012	Dick Little	Megan
2013	Doctor Me		Post-production
2013	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues		Post-production
2014	Think Like a Man Too	Mya	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Gabriel's Fire	Young Girl	Episode: "Birds Gotta Fly"
1994	On Our Own	Traycee	Episode: "Swiss Family Jerricos"
1996	ABC Afterschool Special	Janie	Episode: "Me and My Hormones"
1997	Just One of the Girls	Starkeesha	TV film
1997	Pacific Blue	Shalona James	Episode: "Blood for Blood"
1997	Touched by an Angel	Nikki	Episode: "The Pact"
1997	'	Pauley	Episode: "Three's Not Company"
1997	'	Ariana	Episode: "No Soul on Ice"
1998	'	Ariana	Episode: "Flaked Out"
1998-2001	Cousin Skeeter	Nina	Main role (52 episodes)
2000	Moesha	Nicole	Episode: "He Doth Protest Too Much"
2000	'	Alicia	Episode: "Don't Stand Too Close to Me"
2001	'	Kara Taylor	Episode: "The Parent Trap"
2001	'	Tara Essex	Episodes: "Awakenings 1 & 2"
2001-2002	Raising Dad	Katie	Recurring role (7 episodes)
2002	'	Tamika	Episode: "The Playbook"
2003	My Wife and Kids	Vanessa Scott	Recurring role (5 episodes)
2005	Kevin Hill	Melanie West	Recurring role (4 episodes)
2006	Scarface: The World Is Yours	Femme Fatale (voice)	Video game
2007	House	Amy	Episode: "Words and Deeds"
2007	All of Us	Katie	Episodes: "Sins of the Father", "She Blinded Me with Science"
2009	Cold Case	Beatrice Sloan (1970)	Episode: "Soul"
2011	'	Parker Keith	Episodes: "It Was All Good Just a Week Ago", "Never Surrender"
2012	Californication	Kali	Recurring role (7 episodes)
2012	Harry's Law	Cecilia	Episode: "And the Band Played On"
2013-present	Deception	Joanna Locasto	Main role (11 episodes)

Award nominations

Good's award nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Film
1998	NAACP Image Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress	Eve's Bayou
2008			Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Stomp the Yard
1998	YoungStar Awards	Nominated	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film	Eve's Bayou
2005	Black Movie Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	D.E.B.S.
2006			Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	Waist Deep
2006	Teen Choice Awards	Nominated	Choice Breakout (Female)	Waist Deep
2007			Choice Movie Actress: Drama	Stomp the Yard
2006	Black Reel Awards	Nominated	Best Ensemble	Roll Bounce (Shared with cast)
2007	MTV Movie Awards	Nominated	Best Kiss	Stomp the Yard (Shared with Columbus Short)
2012	Teen Choice Awards	Nominated	Choice Movie Actress Romance	Think Like a Man

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans