The American former model and actress Joy Bryant started her professional acting career in 2001 and has since made feature films like The Skeleton Key, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, About Last Night, and more. She is best known for her role in NBC’s sitcom Parenthood.
Born in the Bronx, New York on October 18, 1974, Bryant is more than just a pretty face, she’s a beauty with brains. She attended Westminster School in Simsbury Connecticut, where she received an excellent academic education and, as a result, was awarded an academic scholarship to Yale University.
Joy Bryant Acting Career
At the age of 3, Bryant began showing signs that she could have a career in the entertainment industry when she started dancing. Growing up in the Bronx, Bryant was a beneficiary part of an inner-city charity called “A Better Chance” that promotes minority talents.
Her foray into show business began while a student at Yale when she was discovered by model scouts from Next Models Management. In no time, Bryant signed up to begin an active career as a model. She represented big names like Rocawear, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Victoria’s Secret.
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In 2001 she started acting and made her debut in MTV’s Carmen: A Hip Hopera, where she played the role of Nikki. In the film, she also played the leading role of Beyonce. In 2002 she appeared in Showtime alongside Eddie Murphy. Joy had her big breakthrough in 2002 in the movie Antwone Fisher, which was the directing debut of Denzel Washington. In the film, Joy played the supporting girlfriend of the title character Antwone, played by Derek Luke.
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Joy starred alongside Jessica Alba in the romantic drama film Honey (2003). Her 2004 films include Spider-Man 2, Three-Way, and Haven. Bryant’s acting career jumped to the next level in 2005 when she appeared in a number of high-profile films including London and The Skeleton Key, for which she was critically acclaimed. Ultimately she was praised for her ability to demonstrate her versatility.
Also in 2005 Joy appeared in 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. On the small screen, Joy made her debut in ER, where she played the recurring role of Valerie Gallant. In 2008 she was a guest in Entourage. From 2010 to 2015 she played the lead role of Jasmine in Parenthood, for which she was nominated for the NAACP Image Award in 2013 as an outstanding supporting actress in a drama series. Between 2015 and 2017 she had a role in the television series Rosewood.
Joy Bryant Husband: Dave Pope
Joy is married to stuntman Dave Pope. They met while Bryant was shooting the film Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, which was released in 2008. Pope’s stuntman skills were used in the same movie.
After months of dating, OK magazine revealed that the duo got engaged in 2007. Their wedding took place in June 2008 in a private home in Amagansett, New York. Bryant wore a custom-made dress, which had been made by her friend Angela Missoni, and was later transformed into a flowery mini dress, also by Missoni. Her husband wore a grey Calvin Klein suit.
Net Worth: $2 million
Joy Bryant Kids
Joy may be popular for her role in parenthood, but the former model does not intend to become parents in real life. Well, over the years, her decision to do so has not gone down well with her friends, colleagues, and fans who urged her to have a baby, arguing that she would be great in motherhood and that she would make such beautiful children.
Joy seemed to have had enough of these opinions in April 2016 when she wrote a letter to Lenny Letter explaining why her decision about motherhood should not be her business.
“I, as the recipient, must keep a cool head and either explain or gracefully defend myself,” wrote the earlier model. “You are lucky that I am a great woman. I know people don’t mean any harm, but this really shouldn’t be an issue at all, because what I do or don’t do with my uterus should not be anyone’s concern but my husband’s.
In another part of the letter she wrote;
“I should commit myself to one of the hardest jobs in the world just to populate the planet with a superhuman specimen of good breeding? No, thanks. I am good.”
Joy Bryant Family
Bryant was born to her mother when she was just 15 years old. In an emotional letter to Lenny Letter, she revealed that her mother Joyce was sexually abused by the man who was to become her father.
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In the letter, Bryant also told of her own experiences with sexual assault. She wrote:
“On October 18, 1974, Joyce gave birth to me, not out of love but shame, after hiding her pregnancy from my grandmother for six months. I am the product of a 15-year-old girl and an older man she knew. It doesn’t matter how, why, or when. It happened, and since both my mother and father are dead, I will never know the details.
The sexual trauma that her mother went through prevented her mother from being the mother she wanted to be, Joy explained in the letter. Now, the curious find can better understand her fears of parenthood.