Mykel Antoinea Gray (born March 28, 1985) known by her stage name, Miss Mykie is an American actress, television personality, and recording artist. Miss Mykie is best known for being one-fourth of the new set of hosts of

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

'' from October 1, 2012 throughout May 2013. Shortly thereafter Miss Mykie would start her own show. She is credited with launching and hosting, the first ever Instagram show, "The Tea" on July 15, 2013.

Early life

Born as Mykel Antoinea Gray in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. Gray grew up in a family of seven siblings, where they would put on

talent shows A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are ...

or pretend to be their own hosts/contestants of their own game shows in their basement. At the age of 3, she and her family moved to

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. At the age of 13, she began to take an interest in music, in the hopes of becoming a singer-songwriter and even formed an all-girl group while she was a freshman in high school. She recalls, "My dad and brother built a studio in our house that I spent countless hours in." Shortly after this, her older brother had become her manager and producer, helping her craft a studio album, which was eventually shelved. She began to perform regularly on local shows and opened up for best-known artists such as

Tyrese Gibson Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American R&B singer and actor from Los Angeles, California. He signed with RCA Records in 1998, and released his debut single " Nobody Else" in August of that year. It peaked within the top ...

Slim Thug Stayve Jerome Thomas (born September 8, 1979), better known by his stage name Slim Thug, is an American rapper. He gained mainstream attention for his guest performance alongside Paul Wall on Mike Jones' 2004 single "Still Tippin'". The followi ...

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

, among others. Shortly after graduating from high school, Gray was accepted to the historically black college,

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in Washington, D.C., but in the middle of her first year she faced a major tragedy. Her older brother was killed, a few days before his 23rd birthday, and this had a profound effect on Gray. Despite the tragedy she joined the Ooh La La Dance Line for Howard's Showtime Marching Band, and became a soror of the Alpha chapter,

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

sorority. Gray graduated from Howard University in May 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, in acting.

Career

After graduating from college, Gray taught

theater arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

at Gregory-Lincoln Education Center in

, Texas from August 2007 until June 2012. She resigned as a middle school teacher to pursue careers in television hosting, acting and music. Gray is also an accomplished singer-songwriter, and in 2012, she recorded her debut studio album. She created an industry buzz with over 1 million YouTube hits this year. Gray officially became one-fourth, of the fourth set of hosts for

's ''

'' alongside Paigion, Shorty da Prince and Bow Wow. They were officially introduced, as the new hosts, on October 1, 2012. Gray, alongside Johnson and Walker left the show midway through May 2013, with Angela Simmons temporarily replacing them for the remainder of Summer 2013. Miss Mykie is credited with launching and hosting, the first ever

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

show, "The Tea", originating on July 15, 2013. Miss Mykie is presently the Host of "The Drop", a

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He has p ...

production. On December 19, 2014, Mykie makes a triumphant return to BET, hosting the final episode of ''106 & Park'', titled "The Final Act" alongside

Free Marie Marie Antoinette Wright (born February 7, 1968), better known by her stage name Free, is an American media personality, television producer, choreographer, rapper, and philanthropist. She became known as the first host (alongside A. J. Callowa ...

, Julissa,

Rocsi Diaz Raquel Roxanne "Rocsi" Diaz (born November 17, 1981, also known simply as Rocsi) is a Honduran-born American television host, radio personality, model and actress. She is best known from her time spent as a co-host on BET’s music video countdo ...

, and Canadian Keshia Chante.

Music

*2010: Imma AKA (single)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mykie, Miss Living people 1985 births Actresses from Denver Musicians from Houston Musicians from Denver African-American radio personalities American radio personalities African-American television personalities American television personalities African-American actresses African-American women musicians Howard University alumni 21st-century African-American women