Mo'Nique (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Mo'Nique (born Monique Imes on December 11, 1967 in Woodlawn, Maryland) is an African American comedian, actress, BET Awards, and reality television host.

Career

Television roles

She is best known for the role of Nicole "Niki" Parker on the UPN television series The Parkers. The show ran from 1999 to 2004. Mo'Nique was subsequently featured on a number of leading stand-up venues, including stints on Showtime at the Apollo, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam, and Thank God You're Here.

She was also named host of Showtime at the Apollo. She is currently the host and executive producer of Mo'Nique's Fat Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women, on the Oxygen cable network. She can currently be seen hosting Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School on VH1, where she recently crowned Saaphyri as the winner.

Her 2007 documentary Mo'Nique Behind Bars focuses on women who are incarcerated. Mo'Nique touches on the common factors that bring many women into the penal system while interviewing women one-on-one. In the interviews, she does not shy away from the facts of what happened or excuse the actions of the inmates but she attempts to help the women see the worth they still hold. The documentary was in conjunction with the filming of a comedy special at the Ohio Reformatory for Women also known as The Farm.

Film and video career

Mo'Nique has had a number of supporting roles in film, primarily aimed at urban audiences. She has had roles in Beerfest, 3 Strikes, Two Can Play That Game, Half Past Dead, and Garfield: The Movie, in which she voiced a CGI character. She also appeared in Baby Boy and Soul Plane.

In 2005, Mo'Nique played a significant role in the Tony Scott bounty hunter thriller Domino, co-starring Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke. In 2006, Mo'Nique was cast as the lead in Phat Girlz, a comedy about an aspiring plus size fashion designer struggling to find love and acceptance. The film is considered to be successful because it made its 3 million production budget back in its first weekend of release. The movie has since made under $10,000,000 in the U.S. and grossed over 14 million worldwide.

Mo'Nique was featured in soul singer Anthony Hamilton's video "Sista Big Bones", the second single from his Ain't Nobody Worryin' album. She plays the role of a beautiful plus sized woman whom Anthony secretly admires because she has always loved herself.

Mo'Nique hosted the 2003 and 2004 BET Awards and appeared as the host again for the 2007 BET Awards. She tore down the house in 2004 and 2007 with openings impersonating Beyonce's famous "Crazy in Love" dance and her dances from "De Ja Vu".

Personal life

Mo'Nique was born in December 11, 1967 in Woodlawn, Maryland. She is one of four children born to Steven Imes Jr. and Alice Imes. She got her start in comedy when her brother dared her to perform at an open mike night and she was a big hit. Not long after she realized this was the path she wanted to pursue and would quit her job at the phone company in Baltimore.

Mo'Nique graduated from Milford Mill High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She has two teenage sons from a previous relationship. Shalon was born in 1990. She had adopted her oldest son, Mark Jr., from her marriage to Mark Jackson. Her oldest son was in a singing group with R&B singer Mario. She married Mark Jackson on December 25, 1997 and appended his surname to hers professionally, but they separated after four years of marriage, and divorced 2001. In 2006, she married her childhood friend Sidney Hicks. She and Hicks have twins, Jonathan and David, born on October 3, 2005.

Always outspoken, Mo'Nique is not shy when talking about the unique arrangement she has with Sidney Hicks. She and her husband have an open marriage, as she mentioned in a profile in The New York Times. "We have an agreement that we'll always be honest, and if sex happens with another person, that's not a deal breaker for us, that's not something where we'll have to say, 'Oh God, we've got to go to divorce court because you cheated on me.' Because we don't cheat."

Books

Mo'Nique is the author of the best-selling book Skinny Women Are Evil. She also released a 2006 cookbook called Skinny Cooks Can't Be Trusted.

Airliner scuffle

In 2006, Mo'Nique had a dispute with flight attendants over a hair dryer stored in an overhead bin on a United Airlines flight set to depart Chicago. She was then ejected from the plane. United booked her on the next flight. She blamed the incident completely on racism by United's flight attendants and called for a boycott by African-American passengers.

Filmography

3 Strikes (2000)
Queens of Comedy (2001)
Two Can Play That Game (2001)
Half Past Dead (2002)
Soul Plane (2004)
Hair Show (2004)
Shadowboxer (2005)
Domino (2005)
Phat Girlz (2006)
Beerfest (2006)
Farce of the Penguins (2007) (voice)
Steppin': The Movie (2007)

Upcoming:

The Better Man (2008)

Television Work

The Parkers (1999-2004)
It's Showtime at the Apollo (host from 2002-2006)
Good Fences (2003)
The 3rd Annual BET Awards (2003)
Pryor Offenses (2004)
The 4th Annual BET Awards (2004)
Mo'Nique's Fat Chance (2005-2006) (limited run)
Thank God You're Here (2007)-1 episode
Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School (2007-present)
The 7th Annual BET Awards (2007)

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