| Garcelle Beauvais | |
|---|---|
Beauvais at Race to Witch Mountain premiere in March 2009 |
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| Born | November 26, 1966 St. Marc, Haiti |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Spouse | Daniel Saunders (divorced; 1 child) Mike Nilon (divorced; 2 children (twins)) |
Garcelle Beauvais (born November 26, 1966) is a Haitian-American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her roles as hotel employee Francesca "Fancy" Monroe on The WB television sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show which ran from 1996 to 2001, and as Valerie Heywood on the ABC crime drama, NYPD Blue.
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Beauvais was born in Haiti, to Marie-Claire Beauvais, a nurse, and Axel Jean Pierre, a lawyer. After her parents divorced, Garcelle and her six elder siblings moved with their mother to the US, first to Massachusetts and later to Miami.[1]
At age seventeen, Beauvais went to New York City to pursue a career as a fashion model, and she was signed with Ford Models and Irene Marie Models in Miami. She modeled print ads for Avon, Mary Kay and Clairol. Beauvais also modeled in catalogs for Lerner New York Clothing Line, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. She has appeared in Essence and Ebony and also walked the catwalk for Calvin Klein and Isaac Mizrahi. Beauvais is the cover model for Jet June 6, 2011 issue.[2]
She co-starred in The Jamie Foxx Show. After The Jamie Foxx Show ended its run in 2001, Beauvais appeared in Luther Vandross' music video, "Take You Out", playing Vandross' girlfriend.[1] She had previously starred in R. Kelly's video for "Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)" in 1996, as the wife of "Mr. Big", and the lover of R. Kelly, delivering the title line as inducement for an affair. She also posed for Playboy 's August 2007 issue. In 2008, Garcelle launched her children's jewelry line called Petit Bijou.[3] As of June 2011, Garcelle is a character on the TNT law drama Franklin & Bash.
A marriage to producer Daniel Saunders ended in divorce. They had a son, Oliver, born in 1991.
Beauvais married Mike Nilon, an agent working for the Creative Artists Agency, on May 12, 2001. Their twin sons, Jax Joseph and Jaid Thomas, were born on October 8, 2007, after a five-year struggle with infertility.[4][5] In April 2010, it was reported that Beauvais had discovered a five-year extramarital affair by Nilon. She reportedly outed him by sending his co-workers an email, the contents of which were leaked to the New York Post.[6] Beauvais issued a statement on April 9, 2010, explaining that her "focus at this time is on my kids and healing the pain".[7] Beauvais filed for divorce from Nilon on May 10, 2010, seeking joint custody of their sons.[8] The couple's divorce was finalized on April 1, 2011.