Karen Charnele Brown (née Dozier; born ) is an American

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, producer, writer, fashion designer and singer. She is known for her roles as Paula in the 1992 film ''How Ya Like Me Now'' and as Kimberly Reese on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

comedy sitcom ''

A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of '' The Cosby Show''. It aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987, to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable ( Lisa Bonet) an ...

'' from 1988 until 1993.

Biography

Born in East Hampton, Brown is a graduate of East Hampton High School. Brown later attended the

State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ...

Where she studied acting with other notables, including

Aida Turturro Aida Turturro (born September 25, 1962) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Janice Soprano on the HBO drama series ''The Sopranos''. Early life and education After graduating from high school, Turturro earned a Bachelo ...

. Brown made her Broadway debut in 1989 as the first American member of the South African musical "Sarafina!" Other stage performances have included the roles of Polly and Delores in "The Trials and Tribulations of Stagger Lee Brown," Ruby in "The Lord's Will," Marty in "Sisters" and Mable in "My Diary." After ''A Different World'' ended, Brown guest starred on sitcoms such as ''

Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Denise Lee that aired for five seasons on the Fox network, from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centers on the lives of six New York City friends who share perso ...

'', ''

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

'', and '' Girlfriends''. She made a brief appearance in a movie titled ''How Ya Like Me Now?'' that starred

Darnell Williams Darnell Williams (born 3 March 1955) is a British television actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' from 1981 to 1988, and from 2008 to 2011, a role which has earned him two Daytime ...

and

Salli Richardson Salli Elise Richardson-Whitfield (born Salli Elise Richardson, November 23, 1967) is an American actress and television director. Richardson is known for her role as Angela in the film '' A Low Down Dirty Shame'' (1994) and for her role as Dr. A ...

. In 2000, Brown founded The Charnele Brown Acting Academy at

Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is part of the Hous ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas.

Filmography

*''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom created by (along with Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson) and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour e ...

'' (1 episode, 1987) *''How U Like Me Now'' (1992) as Paula *''

'' (122 episodes, 1988–1993) as Kimberly Reese *''

'' (1 episode, 1993) as Florence *''

'' (1 episode, 1994) as Jackie *'' Drop Squad'' (1994) as Kyra *''Tendrils'' (1996) *''

Oliver Beene ''Oliver Beene'' is an American sitcom that aired on Fox from March 9, 2003 to September 12, 2004. The show was created by Howard Gewirtz. Set in 1962 and 1963, the show chronicled the trials and tribulations of the 11-to-12-year-old Oliver Be ...

'' (1 episode, 2004) *'' Girlfriends'' (1 episode, 2004) as Beverly *''

My Wife and Kids ''My Wife and Kids'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from March 28, 2001, to May 17, 2005, with a total of 123 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. The series, produced by Touchstone Television in association with Wayan ...

'' (1 episode, 2004) as Nurse *''Bathsheba'' (2005) as Saul's Daughter *''City Girls'' (2007) as Bernice Jackson *'' 5th Ward'' (1 episode, 2020) as Judge Hunter *''BKS, Best Kept Secret'' (2020) as Toni Benwah, also screenwriter *''Changes'' (2021) writer and producer *''Dilemma'' (2022) as Ms. Jones *'' The Reading'' (2023) as Oda Brown *''Where Loyalty Lies'' (2024) as Capt. Wright

References

External links

*
Charnele Brown
at Hollywood.com American television actresses Living people People from East Hampton (town), New York American musical theatre actresses 21st-century American women East Hampton High School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-tv-actor-stub