A Different World: Changes in season two
In season two of the NBC hit sitcom A Different World, producer Debbie Allen made some changes. One was the addition of Charnele Brown as Kimberly Reese. Allen said Brown was hired because the show needed a student who was brown-skinned AKA a ‘ chocolate sista.” In season one Dawn Lewis who played Jaleesa Vinson was the only main character who was brown. Maggie Lawton (Marisa Tome ) was white, and Lisa Bonet (Denise Huxtable), Jasmine Guy (Whitley Gilbert)m and Marie Recastner(Millie) were all light-complexioned.
Allen wanted Hillman to look like the traditional black college where there were variations in the students. and in season two and In addition to Brown, Cree Summer was hired in season two as Freddie Brooks. Freddie had a light brown complexion but was not “high yellow” like the women from season one. She was part African American and part native American with a white mother.
Kim Reese was the smart one
Kim was pre-med and did her best to keep her nose in the books while working at the Pit for Mr. Gaines (Lou Myers). She was the student that others came to for advice because they deemed her to be knowledgeable. Kim was from New Jersey and her father, a police officer was portrayed by Richard Roundtree. Her mother never made an appearance on A Different World. She became best friends with both Whitley and Freddie and briefly dated Ron Johnson (Darryl Bell) in season five. When the series ended after season six Kim was engaged to a fellow pre-med student Spencer Boyer ( Michael Ralph).
Charnele Brown: Getting to know her
Brown was born Karen Charnele Dozier on October 30, 1960, in East Hampton New York. In addition to acting, she is a singer, writer, producer, and fashion designer. In 1989 she made her Broadway debut as the first American member of the South African musical “Sarafina!” Her Alma maters are East Hampton High School and the State University of New York at New Paltz.
Charnele’s other stage performances have included the roles of Delores and Polly in “The Trials and Tribulations of Stagger Lee Brown,” Marty in “Sisters,” Mable in “My Diary” and Ruby in “The Lord’s Will.” After A Different World came to an end Brown made guest appearances on popular sitcoms like Martin, Living Single, and Girlfriends. She also made a brief appearance in the 1992 film How Ya Like Me Now? and Drop Squad 1994.
Brown appeared in the made for television movie City Girls in 2007 and the film The Reading in 2021. She presently lives in Houston Texas where she runs the Charnele Brown Acting School. She married Eric Brown in 1987 and there is no record of the couple having children. Some reports say Charnele and Eric met on the set of A Different World but Charnele did not begin portraying Kim until the year after they were already married.
Charnele Brown: Personal life
It was never mentioned during A Different World that Charnele was married and there do not seem to be any photos of her with her spouse online. She obviously likes to keep her personal life private. Kudos to the actress for maintaining a marriage of more than 3 decades in the world of entertainment. Bill Cosby didn’t like it when Lisa Bonet who portrayed Denise Huxtable got married and had a baby. She was removed from A Different World and went back to The Cosby Show.
In 2016 the actress gave an interview to Houston Style Magazine. She shared that she and her A Different World castmates were having fun on the show and did not realize they were making history. They also did not know at the time that the television series led to increased enrollment in HBCUs. She is active in getting together with her former A Different World cast members.
