Nia Long Biography Videography, Movies and DVDS

Nia Long

"...for the most part, I'm very happy with the pace I'm taking to get where I'm going. I think, in a couple of years, everyone will know who Nia Long is."

Born October 30, 1970, in Brooklyn, New York, Nia Long showed an interest for acting at an early age. Nia, whose name comes from one of the seven days of Kwanzaa and means 'life purpose', was instructed by Betty Bridges, better known as the mother of Diff'rent Strokes' child star Todd Brides.

Long's acting career started out on television, with a role on the soap opera Guiding Light which lasted from 1991 to 1993. In addition to daytime roles, Long appeared on primetime television in sitcoms such as 227, Silver Spoons and My Two Dads. While on Guiding Light, Long had her big screen debut in 1990's Buried Alive One year later, she landed a role in Boyz in the Hood, John Singleton's powerful drama also starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Laurence Fishburne.

Although Boyz in the Hood received critical acclaim, it was Long's two-year role as Will Smith's fiancée that gained her recognition. Working with Will Smith again, Long was cast as Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson's daughter in 1993's Made in America. That same year, Long received an Image Award Nomination. In 1995, continuing in Long's tradition of comedic roles, she appeared in the film Friday, where she shared the big screen with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. As for additional television appearances, Long had guest roles in Living Single, ER, as well as Moesha.

Her breakthrough role arrived in 1997 as the lead female in Love Jones, which tied for the Audience Award at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. That same year Long had a role in Soul Food, co-starring Vanessa Williams and Vivica A. Fox, as well as in The Best Man in 1999.

Proving to be an actress who can successfully cross over many movie genres, Long has also had a supporting role in the 1999 thriller Stigmata; a role in Boiler Room, also starring Ben Affleck and Giovanni Ribisi; as well as a role in In Too Deep. Long joined the likes of Michelle Williams and Vanessa Redgrave and had a role in the HBO production If These Walls Could Talk 2 Long returns to comedy a starring role opposite Martin Lawrence in Big Momma's House.