Mo’Nique

Monique Imes, who adopted the ‘original’ stage name of Mo’nique, we don’t quite know why, was born on December 11, 1967 in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. She was the youngest of four siblings, raised in a stable home, where her father was a counselor for people with drug problems, and her mother an engineer. This allowed him to study first at the Milford Mill Institute, and then at Morgan State University. Among her first occupations was that of operator of a telephone sex switchboard. But come on, you could tell that this was not the illusion of her life.

The woman was seen to be funny, and her brother Steve’s challenge to perform at a comedy club that night paid off. The fact is that Mo’nique made a name for herself in soap opera, especially the series The Parkers , where she assumed the fixed role of Nikki from 1999 to 2004. Her popularity on the small screen served to sign her as a presenter or hostess of shows several, helped his undeniable sympathy. In fact, since October 2009 she has chaired a show with her name, that is, “The Mo’nique Show”.

His film debut came in 2000, with 3 Strikes , not exactly a gem. The reality is that the actress would become a regular presence in films intended for the African-American public, which did not usually cross the borders of the United States, except as direct-to-video titles, or as filler for second-tier television channels. To this category belong Baby Boy (2001), Two to Play (2001) and Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins (2008). In between, she has a secondary presence in some slightly more popular title, although not much, like the sordid plot of contract killers Shadowboxer (2005), where she coincided with Lee Daniels , the director of Precious, or the action movie about a bounty hunter Domino (2005), directed by Tony Scott . Of course, his intervention in La fiesta de la cerveza (2006), or his little roles in series like Nip/Tuck: at the stroke of a scalpel , are not one of those that attract attention.

And suddenly, whoosh, Precious . A movie that impacts. And in a very special way the unpleasant character of the mother, who seems to have no guts in the face of the abuse suffered by her daughter, a tangle of feelings, anger, jealousy and ignorance, which Mo’nique knows how to communicate with her tense face . It is not surprising that the actress, giving a radical change to her image, has swept away all the awards that have been made available to her. What will come next, nobody knows. She is not shooting any movies, and after the failure of her first marriage with Mark Jackson, which gave her a son, she has been with Sidney Hicks since 2006, with whom she said she lives in an “open” marriage – there is no anger if the other gets involved with someone, a comment that he had to clarify before the commotion it caused– and that gave him twins a few months ago.