Brooke Ashley Lyons (born November 8, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Amy in the 2008 film ''

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins ''Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins'' is a 2008 American comedy film written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The film stars Martin Lawrence, Nicole Ari Parker, Margaret Avery, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mike Epps, Mo'Nique, Cedric the Entertainer, Louis ...

'' and as Peach Landis in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

sitcom ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized as ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitn ...

''.

Early life and education

Lyons was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She is the daughter of

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

James R. Lyons and dancer Penny A. Lyons (née Sousa). She is of Italian, Irish and Portuguese descent and grew up in Fairfield and

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, and several other towns in the state. She spent a lot of her youth both dancing and riding horses, giving up the latter to focus on the former. As a child she suffered from

scoliosis Scoliosis (: scolioses) is a condition in which a person's Vertebral column, spine has an irregular curve in the coronal plane. The curve is usually S- or C-shaped over three dimensions. In some, the degree of curve is stable, while in others ...

, which prevented her from a pursuing a career as a ballet dancer. Before being diagnosed, she studied dance at the

Joffrey Ballet School The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual ...

, the New England Ballet School in Connecticut, the

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. ...

and traveled to France. She wore a

back brace A back brace is a device designed to limit the motion of the spine in cases of bone fracture or in post-operative spinal fusiona, as well as a preventative measure against some progressive conditions or to correct a patient's posture. Common bac ...

throughout her time in the ninth grade. She ultimately had surgery to correct her spine. While she was freshman at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, she founded the Connecticut Scoliosis Association and wrote about her experiences with the disease in the book titled ''Scoliosis: Ascending the Curve''. The book was published before she began classes at Yale in 1999. While at Yale she majored in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

and was a member of the "Arts and Letters"

Manuscript Society Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is reputedly the arts and letters society at Yale. History Founded in 1951, Manuscript was Yale's seventh "landed" senior society. That is, its alumni trust ...

Career

Lyons then became interested in acting, receiving her first speaking role in the

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...

play ''

Rumors A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences; derived from Latin 'noise'), is an unverified piece of information circulating among people, especial ...

''. She also worked in the productions ''

The Maids ''The Maids'' ( ) is a 1947 play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed. The play has been revived in Fr ...

'' and ''

Heartbreak House ''Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes'' is a play written by Bernard Shaw during the First World War, published in 1919 and first performed in November 1920 at the Garrick Theatre, New York, followed by a West ...

''. She received additional acting training at

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improv techniques we ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Beginning in 2004, Lyons appeared in the television series ''

American Dreams ''American Dreams'' is an American drama television series that ran on NBC for three seasons and 61 episodes, from September 29, 2002, to March 30, 2005. The show tells the story of the Pryor family of Philadelphia during the mid-1960s, with m ...

'', ''

That's So Raven ''That's So Raven'' is an American television fantasy teen sitcom that was created by Michael Poryes and Susan Sherman, and aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between January 2003 and November 2007. The series centers on Raven Baxter ( ...

'', '' The Starter Wife'', and ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'', and has had recurring roles in ''

'', '' The Affair'', and '' Jane by Design''. In film, her most notable acting role to date was as Amy in the 2008 film ''

''. She also appeared in the films ''The Trap'' (2005), '' Protecting the King'' (2007), and ''

Dark Reel ''Dark Reel'' is a 2008 horror film, horror starring Tiffany Shepis, Edward Furlong, Agung Bagus, Tony Snegoff, Mercedes McNab, Alexandra Holden, Barry Ford, Tony Todd and Lance Henriksen and directed by Josh Eisenstadt. Plot After his girlfrie ...

'' (2008).

Personal life

In 2014, Lyons married film producer Max Osswald. She and Osswald have a son, born in August 2017. Lyons co-starred in two films that Osswald produced, the short film ''To Sonnets'' and the television film '' A Deadly Adoption''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Brooke 1980 births 21st-century American actresses Actors from Fairfield, Connecticut Actresses from New Haven, Connecticut Actresses from Washington, D.C. American film actresses American television actresses American people of Portuguese descent American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent Living people Yale University alumni American health activists American women activists