Actors Mo'Nique and Rider Strong are celebrating their birthdays today.
Mo'Nique, 47
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Comedian and actress Mo'Nique turns 47 today. Born Monique Angela Hicks, Mo'Nique portrayed Nicole "Nikki" Parker on the UPN television series The Parkers from 1999 to 2004. She was featured on many leading stand-up venues such as Showtime at the Apollo, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam and Thank God You're Here. From 2005 to 2007, she served as hostess and executive producer of Mo'Nique's Fat Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women, on the Oxygen cable network. From 2009 to 2011, Mo'Nique hosted her own talk show, The Mo'Nique Show, which aired on the BET network until its cancellation.
Mo'Nique has had a number of supporting roles in film including Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Beerfest, Two Can Play That Game, Garfield: The Movie and Soul Plane. In 2005, Mo'Nique starred in the thriller Domino. In 2006, Mo'Nique was cast as the lead in Phat Girlz. Mo'Nique hosted the 2003 and 2004 BET Awards and appeared as the host again in 2007.
In 2009, Mo'Nique appeared in the film Precious, winning the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for her critically acclaimed performance. The African-American Film Critics Association awarded Mo'Nique with the Best Supporting Actress Award. She received many accolades for her perfomance and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Independent Spirit Award and the BAFTA Award.
Besides acting, Mo'Nique is the author of the best-selling book Skinny Women Are Evil: Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World and a cookbook called Skinny Cooks Can't Be Trusted. Mo'Nique is married to Sidney Hicks, and has three sons, twins with Hicks, and one from a previous marriage.
Rider Strong, 35
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com
Actor, director, producer and screenwriter Rider Strong turns 35 today. Strong began his acting career at the age of nine, when he starred in the San Francisco production of Les Misérables and later appeared in small screen roles on television. In 1992, he received his first regular television role on Julie. After its cancellation, Strong made his debut in film in Benefit of the Doubt. Strong was chosen for the role of Shawn Hunter in the ABC series Boy Meets World, a role from which he gained widespread recognition. During the show's seven-year run, he was nominated twice for the Young Artist Award and nominated once for a Hollywood Reporter YoungStar Award.
When the series ended, Strong returned to the big screen to star as Paul in the indie horror film Cabin Fever and had a brief cameo appearance in 2009's Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Along with his brother, Shiloh Strong, he wrote and directed the short film, Irish Twins, which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. It went on to win both the Jury Award and Audience Award at the Woods Hole Film Festival, a Special Jury Prize in the Action/Cut Short Film Competition and Best First-Time Director at DC Shorts.
Though Strong declined an offer to reprise his role as Shawn Hunter in the spin off, Girl Meets World, he did reprise his role in a couple of episodes. He also directed two episodes titled "Girl Meets 1961" and "Girl Meets Brother."
Strong is married to actress Alexandra Barreto.
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