Joy Bryant

Joy Bryant (born October 18, 1974) who helped support her on welfare. Bryant would later reveal that she was conceived from a sexual assault against her mother, who was fifteen years old at the time of her birth, by an older adult male. Bryant stated: "[My mother] gave birth to me, not in love but in shame, after hiding her pregnancy from my grandmother for six months." While living in the Bronx, she graduated from CJHS 145x and was a member of the Fieldston Enrichment Program, an elite high school preparatory program. Bryant is a graduate of Westminster School, a boarding school in Simsbury, Connecticut.

After graduating from Westminster, Bryant was a gifted student and earned a scholarship to Yale University, where she studied for two years before dropping out to pursue a modeling career. Bryant's grandmother died during her freshman year at Yale, which made her lose interest in studying, saying "I lost my biggest cheerleader, my rock. Being 'smart' didn’t matter to me anymore." She later completed her degree and graduated from Yale.

Career

Modeling While enrolled as a student at Yale, Bryant was discovered by a modeling scout from Next Model Management and was selected to appear in Seventeen magazine's "Back to School" issue soon after. She began working as a fashion model in Paris. In 2006, Bryant signed a multi-year contract with CoverGirl. She has walked the runway for Tommy Hilfiger and Givenchy.

She has graced the cover of numerous magazines, including Teen Vogue, Complex, Lonny, Domino and Rolling Out. She has appeared in pictorials for InStyle, Harper's Bazaar, Paper, Vanity Fair, Vibe, Playboy, Stuff and Celebrity Skin.

Acting Early in her career, Bryant played a small role in Ill Al Skratch's music video for the song "I'll Take Her" (1994). She went on to appear in numerous music videos, including playing the female lead in Santana's "Nothing at All" (2003) and Usher's "Caught Up" (2004). Her acting debut came in 2001 in Robert Townsend's film Carmen: A Hip Hopera, in which she portrayed one of Carmen’s best friends opposite Beyoncé and Mekhi Phifer. After a small role in the action comedy Showtime (2002), she made her big breakthrough in Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher (2002). In 2003, she co-starred in the Mario Van Peebles drama film Baadasssss!, followed by a recurring guest role on the drama series ER. She portrayed Gina, Jessica Alba's character's best friend in the dance film Honey (2003), which grossed $65.3 million at the box office worldwide.

In 2005, she appeared in several high-profile films, including the horror film The Skeleton Key and the drama films London and Get Rich or Die Tryin' , in the latter of which she played the childhood sweetheart of 50 Cent. In 2007, she had a minor part in the thriller film The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard, followed by a leading role in the ensemble comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008). She also played the role of Tunde Adebimpe's love interest in "Will Do", a 2011 TV on the Radio music video. thumb Bryant and Angela Missoni attending 2009 Women's World Awards in Vienna, Austria.Bryant starred as Jasmine Trussell in NBC's family comedy-drama series Parenthood (2010–2015). BuddyTV ranked her #19 on its TV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2011 list. In 2012, she launched her own web series, Across the Board with Joy Bryant, which featured interviews with celebrity guests. An action talk show hosted by Bryant saw her and the guests doing different activities such as go-karting, climbing and pottery. The series consisted of ten episodes and aired on Reserve's YouTube channel. She had one of the main roles as Debbie Sullivan on the romantic comedy film About Last Night (2014) alongside Kevin Hart, Regina Hall and Michael Ealy. The film grossed $50 million at the box office.

In 2015, she had a recurring role as Erica Kincaid, a doctor, on the police procedural drama series Rosewood. In 2017, she had guest roles on television shows What Would Diplo Do? and Girls. The following year, Bryant was cast in a recurring role on the sports drama series Ballers, playing a successful public defender and mother of a rising football star. In 2019, she portrayed Lori Foster on Netflix's teen drama series Trinkets.

Business ventures She co-founded a production company in 2016. On January 13, 2021, Deadline announced that Bryant and producer Samantha Taylor Pickett launched a production company, Hot Sauce, with a three-year deal at Sony Pictures.

Fashion design In June 2014, Bryant and her husband Dave Pope launched a clothing line, Basic Terrain, a casual sportswear to performance outerwear line. The collection was inspired by Bryant's love for the outdoors. Basic Terrain's pop-up store was opened in July 2015 at Satine, a clothing boutique in Los Angeles. Ten percent of the company's proceeds are donated to environmental organizations such as Earthjustice. In September 2016, Basic Terrain became available in chain department store Selfridges in the United Kingdom.

Writing Bryant has written several personal essays for publications such as Lenny Letter and Refinery29. In 2011, she designed a handbag for Botkier, named "Botkier Joy Satchel" with fifty percent of the proceeds from every bag’s sale went to Oxfam.

Personal life In October 2007, OK! magazine reported that Bryant was engaged to stuntman Dave Pope, who she met on the set of Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. They married on June 28, 2008, in the Hamptons. She owns a ranch house in Glendale, California.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Music videos

As producer

Awards and nominations

Authored articles

Bryant Joy (April 6, 2016). "Stop Telling Me I Should Have Kids". Lenny Letter. Bryant, Joy (July 18, 2016). "Girl, You Beautiful". Refinery29. Bryant, Joy (November 15, 2017). "Her, Too: My Mother, and the Legacy of Abuse". Lenny Letter.