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Jasmine Guy
Actress of Stage & Screen
Jasmine Guy
Actress of Stage & Screen
Biography
Jasmine Guy continues to enjoy a diverse career in the arts. Well known for the iconic role of Whitley Gilbert on the 1990s hit television series A Different World, Jasmine can currently be seen in Harlem, the comedy series from Tracy Oliver for Amazon Prime, and Vanished: Searching for My Sister, a movie for Lifetime that premiered in January. She stars in the new feature film The Lady Makers, which is currently available on Amazon Prime, and recently completed filming Not Just Another Church Movie, and A Wesley Family Christmas, a holiday-themed feature film slated for release this winter.
Guy’s long list of television credits include her recent multi-episode role in Grey’s Anatomy, Showtime’s Dead Like Me, HBO’s America Me, BET’s The Quad, the CW’s Vampire Diaries, NBC’s The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and the CBS miniseries Queen and Stompin’ at the Savoy. In 2019, she starred in the Oscar-nominated short film My Nephew Emmett and HBO’s short film Irreconcilable. Jasmine’s other film credits include October Baby, Spike Lee’s School Daze, Eddie Murphy’s Harlem Nights and Diamond Men.
Jasmine’s Broadway performances range from The Alvin Ailey Repertory Company to Grease (as Rizzo), to Leader of the Pack to The Wiz to Chicago (as Velma Kelly). On stage in Atlanta, she starred in the Alliance Theatre production of Pearl Cleage’s The Nacerima Society, Theatrical Outfit’s production of Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love (with Kenny Leon), and she has starred in Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre productions of Miss Evers’ Boys, Blues for an Alabama Sky and Broke-ology. She has directed productions of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Brownie Points and the Martin Luther King, Jr. opera I Dream.
Guy is author of the book Evolution of a Revolutionary (Atria Books), about the life and times of Afeni Shakur, black activist and mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur.
As a vocalist, Jasmine has enjoyed performing on Broadway stages in musicals and has toured the country in the one-woman show Raisin’ Cane, with the Avery Sharpe Trio. Raisin’ Cane explores the literature, music and political climate of the Harlem Renaissance, the rich decade between World War I and the Great Depression.
In the early 1990s, Jasmine’s debut self-titled album (Warner Bros. Records) crossed over musical genres with her hit songs “Try Me,” “Another Like My Lover” and “Just Wanna Hold You.”
Jasmine now travels the country sharing her vast and diverse experiences with people from all walks of life. She speaks at colleges, universities, conventions and conferences, and leads workshops on diversity, acting and living out your dreams, your aspirations and your calling.
Speaker Videos
National Alumni Association
Inspiring Others
Speech Topics
Making Your Own Different World
What is your own different world? Speaker Jasmine Guy explains that it is the sphere of influence you create around yourself that provides the gateways to all the opportunities of your life. In order to create such a rich world, you must surround yourself with a diverse group of people. This diversity should not be limited to the racially diverse but should encompass the rich, poor, street-smart, book-smart, religious, rebellious, straight, gay, transgendered, male, female, elderly, young… basically, anyone you may run into on a daily basis. The more varied your friends and associates, the more enriched your life will be and the more you will be open to opportunities of every kind. Opportunity often knocks dressed up as something other than what you expect, so it is up to us to interpret what an opportunity is and what it is not.
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Founder & CEO, National CARES Mentoring Movement & Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Essence Magazine
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