BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Kenya Moore
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Born | Kenya Summer Moore January 24, 1971 [1] Detroit, Michigan, U.S.[2][1] |
|---|---|
| Education | Cass Technical High School Wayne State University |
| Occupation | Actress, Model, Television Personality, Author, Producer |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Measurements | 38–24–39 |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Title(s) | Miss Michigan 1993 Miss USA 1993 |
| Major competition(s) | Miss USA 1993 Miss Universe 1993 (Top 6) |
| Official website | |
Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971)[2][1] is an American actress, model, television personality, author, producer and former Miss USA. She participated in the 1993 Miss Michigan USA pageant and won the Miss USA 1993 title while later finishing in the top six of the Miss Universe 1993 pageant. Moore was the second Detroit native to be crowned Miss USA (following Carole Gistwho won the title in 1990).[3][4] She currently stars as one of six members in the Bravo reality television series The Real Housewives of Atlanta since its fifth season premiere on November 4, 2012. Additionally, she founded the Kenya Moore Foundation, a charity which awards scholarships to underprivileged girls from her high school alma mater.
Moore is a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice season 7, which premiered on January 4, 2015, a near year after filming.
Early life, modeling and pageants
Moore was born in Detroit, Michigan[1][2] to teenagers Patricia Moore and Ronald Grant, and raised by her paternal grandmother and aunt after her mother abandoned her at birth. The reality TV show star revealed that her mother never named her.“Since birth, my mother made the decision at age 16 to pretend she never had me. She has never spoken to me,” Kenya wrote. “Even if present in the same room with other people and family, she pretends that I simply don’t exist. She pretends I’m invisible" Kenya revealed on her bravo blog.”[5] She graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1989[6] and attended Wayne State University, where she majored in psychology and minored in communication, graduating magna cum laude.[7] She began modeling at the age of 14 being on the cover of the January 1992 issue of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company's Ebony Man's (EM) magazine. [8] She also became a model for the Ebony Fashion Fair cosmetic line. At 22, Kenya Moore won Miss Michigan USA (1993) and then became the second African American woman to winMiss USA. She then represented America in the Miss Universe 1993 pageant; she placed fifth.
Post-pageant career
Moore successfully leveraged her pageant wins into appearances in several television programs including: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Meet The Browns, Homeboys in Outer Space, Sparks, Smart Guy, Video Soul Living Single, Damon, In the House, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Parent 'Hood, The Steve Harvey Show, Martin, Nubian Goddess, Men, Women & Dogs, The Parkers, Under One Roof, and Girlfriends[citation needed]. She has also appeared on the covers of Glamour, Seventeen, Ebony, and Essence magazines and can be seen in the music videos for Jermaine Dupri's "Money Ain't a Thang" (1998), Nas's "Street Dreams" (1996), Shai's "I Don't Wanna Be Alone" (1996), [9] and Tupac's "Tempataions". [10] Additionally, Moore has appeared in several films: Waiting to Exhale (1995), Senseless (1998), Trois (2000), Deliver Us from Eva (2003), Brothers in Arms(2005), Cloud 9 (2006), I Know Who Killed Me (2007), and Trapped: Haitian Nights (2010).[citation needed] Since 2007, she has also been producing and directing, and launched her own company, Moore Vision Media in 2008. So far, her company has produced an erotic thriller entitled, “The Confidant”. In May 2012, Moore joined the season five cast ofBravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta.[11] In 2013, she released a workout DVD titled Kenya Moore: Booty Boot Camp.[12] Moore was a contestant on the Celebrity Apprenticeseason 7 aired in 2015.[13]
Production
Moore was credited as producer/director of the film Haitian Nights;[14] after the project lost its director for unspecified reasons, Moore took over the production and completed the film. When the film failed to find distribution, Moore founded Moore Vision Media, an independent movie production and home-video distribution company.[15] The company's first production was The Confidant, released by Universal Vivendi on August 24, 2010.[16]
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Waiting To Exhale | Denise | [17] |
| 1998 | Senseless | Lorraine | [18] |
| 2000 | Trois | Jasmine Davis | [19] |
| 2001 | No Turning Back | Lia | |
| 2003 | Deliver Us From Eva | Renee Johnson | [20] |
| Hot Parts | Passion | ||
| 2004 | Nas: Video Anthology Vol. 1 | Herself | |
| 2005 | Resurrection: The J.R. Richard Story | Leticia | |
| Brothers in Arms | Mara | ||
| 2006 | Cloud 9 | Champagne | |
| 2007 | I Know Who Killed Me | Jazmin | [21] |
| 2010 | Trapped: Haitian Nights | Nadine | |
| The Confidant | Eden Patterson | [22] | |
| 2013 | Dolls of Voodoo | Nadine | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Dana | Mothers Day |
| 1996 | Martin | Lena Bozack | You're All I Need |
| Homeboys in Outer Space | Nefertiti | Super Bad Foxy Lady Killer or Ty and Morris Get the Shaft | |
| 1997 | Sparks | Ms. Collins | I, Spy |
| Smart Guy | Vivian Kennedy | Brother, Brother | |
| Living Single | Lisa DeLongPre | One Degree of Separation | |
| Nubian Goddess | Herself | Host | |
| 1998 | Damon | Julia Burton | The Designer |
| The Steve Harvey Show | Miss Gerard | Educating Piggy | |
| 1999 | The Jamie Foxx Show | Heidi | Change of Heart |
| The Parent 'Hood | Celeste | Wedding Bells Blues,
A Sister Scorned
| |
| In The House | Valerie Bridgeforth | How Nana Got Her Groove Back,
Not as Good as It Gets
| |
| 2001 | Men, Women, & Dogs | Carmen | Sick as a Dog |
| 2004 | Girlfriends | Kara | Maybe Baby,
New York Bound
|
| 2012–present | Real Housewives of Atlanta | Herself | |
| 2013 | Walk This Way | n/a | Abstinence |
| 2015 | Celebrity Apprentice | Herself | 7th Place |
| 2015 | The Millionaire Matchmaker | Herself | |
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