Monica Calhoun, a successful Black American film and television actress, is now 51 years old. She has gained fame through her remarkable performances in various films, including Bagdad Cafe, The Players Club, The Salon, The Best Man, and its sequel, The Best Man Holiday. In the early 90s, she also co-starred in a few episodes of A Different World and in The Jacksons: An American Dream TV series where she played Rebbie Jackson.
Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Calhoun moved to California in the late 1970s, where she discovered her passion for acting. She attended the Los Angeles County High School for Arts and made her acting debut in the 1985 TV film, Children of the Night, where she played Wanda.
One of her most memorable roles was in the 1987 film Bagdad Cafe, where she played Phyllis, the daughter of CCH Pounder’s character. Calhoun was the only actor to reprise her role in the television series, but her character’s name was changed to Debbie. The show was canceled after two seasons.
In addition to her success on the big and small screen, Calhoun has also appeared in several sitcoms and films such as The Wayans Bros, A Different World, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Players Club, and The Ditch Diggers Daughters. In the latter, which aired in 1997, she portrayed Linda, one of the daughters of Donald Thornton.
Calhoun has received various awards and nominations for her performances, including an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture in 2000 for her role in Love & Basketball. She also received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the CBS Schoolbreak Special “Different Worlds: A Story of Interracial Love” in 1993.
She played the lead role, Reese Delaware, in Intimate Betrayal in 1999, and portrayed Kerry, the girlfriend of the basketball-playing protagonist in Love & Basketball in the same year. In 2003, she played Rachel in the Western Gang of Roses.
Calhoun’s most notable role is perhaps as Mia, the wife of Morris Chestnut’s character in the 1999 film The Best Man, for which she reprised her role in the sequel, The Best Man Holiday, in 2013.
Aside from her successful acting career, Calhoun is also a proud mother to her son, who was born in 2000 and is blind.
