Nia Long Biography

This section contains Nia Long Biography
Nia Long was born in New York on October 30, 1970. Her father Doughtry, was a high school teacher, while her mother Talita was a bus driver and art teacher. Her parents divorced when she still a toddler. Nia Long moved to Los Angeles with her mother where she studied at the Westchester High School. She took up acting, guitar, jazz, ballet, and tap. Her mother had a difficulty getting good paying jobs, so both of them went through much financial struggle, and this pushed Nia Long to become successful.

Nia Long had been mentored by Betty Bridges, an acting coach, for fifteen years. She did many stage productions, and starred in The B.R.A.T. Patrol and in the movie Boyz N The Hood. Her big break came when she was cast as Kat on the soap opera Guiding Light. Nia Long’s three year contract with for show allowed her to showcase her talent and receive more acting jobs. While she was shooting the soap, she was able to score a part in Made in America, alongside Whoopi Goldberg.

Nia Long also starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air for a few seasons, where she played the love interest of Will Smith. It did not take much for people to notice her, and she soon got her first lead role for a movie, Love Jones, in 1997. She was nominated a Black Film Award in the category of Best Actress for the movie. She then had more movies in a variety of genres that showed Nia Long’s prowess as an actress, such as Soul Food in 1997 which proved to be a sleeper hit, the action movies Butter in 1998, and Too Deep in 1999.

Nia Long had many more movie projects, such as The Best Man, the thriller Stigmata where she costarred with Patricia Arquette, the comedy Held Up, the indie film The Secret Laughter of Women, the gay drama Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, with Giovanni Ribisi in The Boiler Room, and in the HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2. She won a Black Reel Award in the category of Theatrical Best Actress and also won an Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in The Best Man.

Nia Long’s later years saw her return to television; in 2003 she joined Third Watch and stayed for 2 years; and also stayed for a brief stint in the shows Everwood and Boston Legal. Her role in Third Watch garnered her an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. Nia Long also appears in the music video for Kanye West’s song Touch the Sky.

Nia Long has been dating Massai Dorsey for a long time, and they have a child named Massai Zhivago Dorsey. People Magazine has voted Nia Long as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 2000.

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