Ireneparalegal
07-06-2008, 11:08 PM
I happened to catch this show on PBS last week and wanted to share this with the ADW fans. Jasmine Guy apparently is the co-host of this dancing contest. I love to watch DANCING WITH THE STARS and since one of the male dancers was going to compete on this, I decided to tune in. Imagine my shock seeing Jasmine! :eek: ;)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ballroomchallenge/competition-hosts.html
The host of America's Ballroom Challenge is Jasmine Guy, an actress, dancer, and singer whose career has included many leading roles on television, in feature films, and on the stage.
Ms. Guy is best known for playing Whitley Gilbert, the memorably spoiled Southern belle in the comedy series A Different World, which ran on NBC from 1987 to 1993. Ms. Guy won six consecutive NAACP Image Awards for the role.
But Ms. Guy actually began her performing career as a dancer. Though born in Boston, she grew up in Atlanta, where her father, Rev. William Guy, was the pastor of the historic Friendship Baptist Church. Jasmine began taking ballet lessons at age 5 and, inspired by performers like the visiting Dance Theater of Harlem, she went on to study dance at Atlanta's performing arts high school. At 17, she won a scholarship to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City, where she spent three years as a concert dancer.
In 1982, Ms. Guy took a leave from the Ailey company to play a dancer on the opening season of the NBC series Fame. The role introduced her to Los Angeles, to television—and to Debbie Allen, the actress/singer/dancer/choreographer who would become a role model for her own multifaceted performing career. Ms. Guy returned to New York but soon left the Ailey company for the stage, appearing as a singer and dancer in musicals like Dancin' in the Street, Bubbling Brown Sugar, The Wiz, and Broadway's Leader of the Pack.
While working for A Different World back in Los Angeles, Ms. Guy began to land film roles as well. In 1988, Spike Lee chose her for a part in School Daze, starring Laurence Fishburne. A year later she appeared with Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor in Murphy's 1989 gangster spoof Harlem Nights.
Since completing her run as Whitley Gilbert, Ms. Guy has divided her time between stage and screen. She appeared with Halle Berry, Martin Sheen, and Paul Winfield in the 1993 Alex Haley miniseries Queen and later had guest appearances on many series, including Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. After marrying and giving birth to daughter Imani in 1999, she returned to the stage, winning acclaim for her portrayal of Velma Kelly in Bob Fosse's Chicago in performances all across America. Back on television in 2003, she starred alongside Mandy Patinkin in Showtime's two-year hit series Dead Like Me. She will reprise her role in a movie version due out in 2008.
In 2004, Ms. Guy published Evolution of a Revolutionary, an absorbing profile of Afeni Shakur, the mother of slain rap star Tupac Shakur. Ms. Guy is active in many charities, including A Place Called Home, a community safe house that offers food, security, sports, music, and educational activities to more than 2,000 children in south central Los Angeles. Among the center's offerings is a dance school, founded by Ms. Guy and now run by her sister Monica.
"I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to host America's Ballroom Challenge, because it's like returning to my roots," Ms. Guy says. "I'm fortunate to have had many different kinds of roles as a performer. But for me it all began with dancing. That was my first love. So I'm very pleased to be joining a show that celebrates the very finest in ballroom dancing."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ballroomchallenge/competition-hosts.html
The host of America's Ballroom Challenge is Jasmine Guy, an actress, dancer, and singer whose career has included many leading roles on television, in feature films, and on the stage.
Ms. Guy is best known for playing Whitley Gilbert, the memorably spoiled Southern belle in the comedy series A Different World, which ran on NBC from 1987 to 1993. Ms. Guy won six consecutive NAACP Image Awards for the role.
But Ms. Guy actually began her performing career as a dancer. Though born in Boston, she grew up in Atlanta, where her father, Rev. William Guy, was the pastor of the historic Friendship Baptist Church. Jasmine began taking ballet lessons at age 5 and, inspired by performers like the visiting Dance Theater of Harlem, she went on to study dance at Atlanta's performing arts high school. At 17, she won a scholarship to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City, where she spent three years as a concert dancer.
In 1982, Ms. Guy took a leave from the Ailey company to play a dancer on the opening season of the NBC series Fame. The role introduced her to Los Angeles, to television—and to Debbie Allen, the actress/singer/dancer/choreographer who would become a role model for her own multifaceted performing career. Ms. Guy returned to New York but soon left the Ailey company for the stage, appearing as a singer and dancer in musicals like Dancin' in the Street, Bubbling Brown Sugar, The Wiz, and Broadway's Leader of the Pack.
While working for A Different World back in Los Angeles, Ms. Guy began to land film roles as well. In 1988, Spike Lee chose her for a part in School Daze, starring Laurence Fishburne. A year later she appeared with Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor in Murphy's 1989 gangster spoof Harlem Nights.
Since completing her run as Whitley Gilbert, Ms. Guy has divided her time between stage and screen. She appeared with Halle Berry, Martin Sheen, and Paul Winfield in the 1993 Alex Haley miniseries Queen and later had guest appearances on many series, including Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. After marrying and giving birth to daughter Imani in 1999, she returned to the stage, winning acclaim for her portrayal of Velma Kelly in Bob Fosse's Chicago in performances all across America. Back on television in 2003, she starred alongside Mandy Patinkin in Showtime's two-year hit series Dead Like Me. She will reprise her role in a movie version due out in 2008.
In 2004, Ms. Guy published Evolution of a Revolutionary, an absorbing profile of Afeni Shakur, the mother of slain rap star Tupac Shakur. Ms. Guy is active in many charities, including A Place Called Home, a community safe house that offers food, security, sports, music, and educational activities to more than 2,000 children in south central Los Angeles. Among the center's offerings is a dance school, founded by Ms. Guy and now run by her sister Monica.
"I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to host America's Ballroom Challenge, because it's like returning to my roots," Ms. Guy says. "I'm fortunate to have had many different kinds of roles as a performer. But for me it all began with dancing. That was my first love. So I'm very pleased to be joining a show that celebrates the very finest in ballroom dancing."