Nia Long

ActorProducerExecutive Producer

Nia Long (born October 30, 1970) is an American actress and occasional music video director. She is best known for her roles in the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Third Watch, and the films Soul Food, Love Jones, The Best Man, Big Momma's House, and Are We There Yet? Long was born in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Her family is of Afro-Trinidadian descent. Her name, Nia, is one of the seven days of Kwanzaa, which means purpose in Swahili. Long's parents divorced when she was two years old, and she and her mother moved to Iowa City, Iowa. They subsequently moved to a South Los Angeles neighborhood when Long was seven. Long's father currently resides in Trenton, New Jersey. Long's half-sister is comedienne Sommore, one of the stars of The Queens of Comedy. She attended the Roman Catholic school St. Mary's Academy and studied ballet, tap, jazz, gymnastics, guitar, and acting. She graduated from WestchesterHigh School in 1989. Long's acting coach was Betty Bridges, better known as the mother of Diff'rent Strokes star Todd Bridges. Her earliest role was in the Disney television movie, The B.R.A.T Patrol alongside Sean Astin, Tim Thomerson and Brian Keith. Her first notable role on television was a three-year contract role as Kathryn "Kat" Speakes on the soap opera Guiding Light. Long portrayed Kat from 1991 to 1994, then f rom 1994 - 1995, she played Will Smith's girlfriend and fiancée Beulah "Lisa" Wilkes on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. In 2003, she joined the cast of the drama Third Watch, where she played NYPD Officer Sasha Monroe, continuing until the series finale in 2005. In 2005 and 2006, Long appeared on Everwood, and appeared on Boston Legal during its 2006-2007 season. Long also starred in Big Shots from 2007-2008 alongside Michael Vartan and Dylan McDermott. She also made a guest appearance on the successful sitcom Living Single during its first season. Long appeared in supporting roles in a number of movies including, Boyz n the Hood, Friday, and Made in America. She played a leading role, or a member of the primary ensemble, in several films, including Soul Food, Love Jones, Boiler Room, Big Momma's House, Are We There Yet?, and The Best Man. Ice Cube has starred with her in four films, while (fellow Westchester High alum) Regina King has starred with her in two. Long was voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the World in 2000 by People. She won a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2004 for her performance on Third Watch. In addition to her film credits, she directed Yolanda Adams's music video for "This Too Shall Pass" and co-directed and appeared in Ashanti's music video, "Baby". She also appears in the video for Kanye West's, "Touch The Sky". Long and her former long-time boyfriend and fellow actor Massai Z. Dorsey have a son, Massai Zhivago Dorsey II, born on November 26, 2000.

30-10-1970

Birthday

Scorpio

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

ניה לונג, Ніа Лонг, نیا لانگ

Also known as (female)

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Place of Birth

30-10-1970

Birthday

Scorpio

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also Known As (female)

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Place of Birth

Popular works

Media

Creative career

actor

45 Works

producer

2 Works

director

2 Works

writer

0 Works

other

0 Works

Michael

An in-depth portrayal of Michael Jackson, a complicated man, who became the King of Pop. The biopic will bring to life Jackson’s most iconic performances as it gives an informed insight into the entertainer’s artistic process and personal life.

0.0

Year:

2025

You People

A new couple and their families reckon with modern love amid culture clashes, societal expectations and generational differences.

5.6

Year:

2023

Missing

When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers... and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.

7.4

Year:

2023

Look Both Ways

On the night of her college graduation, Natalie's life splits into parallel realities after she takes a pregnancy test. What will life and love bring?

6.9

Year:

2022

Life in a Year

A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.

8.2

Year:

2020

Fatal Affair

Ellie tries to mend her marriage with her husband Marcus after a brief encounter with an old friend, David, only to find that David is more dangerous and unstable than she'd realized.

5.6

Year:

2020

The Banker

In the 1960s, two entrepreneurs hatch an ingenious business plan to fight for housing integration—and equal access to the American Dream.

7.6

Year:

2020

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

Four teenage girls go on a diving adventure to explore a submerged Mayan city. Once inside, their rush of excitement turns into a jolt of terror as they discover the sunken ruins are a hunting ground for deadly great white sharks. With their air supply steadily dwindling, the friends must navigate the underwater labyrinth of claustrophobic caves and eerie tunnels in search of a way out of their watery hell.

5.7

Year:

2019

Lemon

A man watches his life unravel after he is left by his blind girlfriend.

4.6

Year:

2017

Roxanne Roxanne

The most feared battle emcee in the early 1980s in Queens, New York, was a fierce teenager from the Queensbridge projects. At the age of 14, Roxanne Shanté was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend, as she hustled to provide for her family while defending herself from the dangers of the street.

6.0

Year:

2017

Beaches

Follows the serendipitous meeting of two young girls on the Venice Boardwalk, who, though worlds apart in lifestyle, embark on unexpected and lifelong friendship. CC is an aspiring singer trying to make it in Los Angeles. Hillary is the daughter of a prominent civil rights lawyer who struggles to find her own destiny. Their friendship—even with its ups and downs—sustains them for decades.

6.1

Year:

2017

Keanu

Friends hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen cat by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.

6.1

Year:

2016

The Single Moms Club

A group of single moms are brought together in the aftermath of an incident at their children's school.

6.0

Year:

2014

The Best Man Holiday

When college friends reunite after 15 years over the Christmas holidays, they discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be reignited.

6.6

Year:

2013

The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood'

A wonderful retrospective supplement that features much of the primary cast cast as well as Writer/Director John Singleton looking back at the picture's history and legacy. They speak on the themes of the film, the casting process, its importance then and now, its reception upon release, the project's novelty, its placing in the National Film Registry, and more. There's no shortage of good insight here and the piece does a fine job of encapsulating what Boyz n the Hood is all about.

2.0

Year:

2011

Mooz-lum

Thanks to a strict Muslim upbringing that largely shielded him from the outside world, Tariq's first year of college proves transformative. That is, until the 9/11 terrorist attacks invite growing suspicion and distrust from his angry classmates.

5.1

Year:

2011

Good Hair

An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, GOOD HAIR visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of the black community.

6.5

Year:

2009

‘Friday’ Straight Up

Featurette about the making of "Friday."

8.0

Year:

2009

Gospel Hill

Gospel Hill tells the intersecting story of two men in the fictional South Carolina town of Julia. Danny Glover plays John Malcolm, the son of a slain civil rights activist. Jack Herrod (Tom Bower) is the former sheriff who never got to the bottom of the murder. Their paths begin to cross when a development corporation comes to town with plans to raze Julia's historic Gospel Hill.

4.8

Year:

2008

Are We Done Yet?

Newlyweds Nick and Suzanne decide to move to the suburbs to provide a better life for their two kids. But their idea of a dream home is disturbed by a contractor with a bizarre approach to business.

5.8

Year:

2007

Premonition

A depressed housewife who learns her husband was killed in a car accident the day previously, awakens the next morning to find him alive and well at home, and then awakens the day after to a world in which he is still dead.

6.3

Year:

2007

Big Momma's House 2

FBI agent Malcolm Turner goes back undercover as Big Momma, a slick-talking, slam-dunking Southern granny with attitude to spare! Now this granny must play nanny to three dysfunctional upper-class kids in order to spy on their computer hacker father.

5.8

Year:

2006

Are We There Yet?

The fledgling romance between Nick, a playboy bachelor, and Suzanne, a divorced mother of two, is threatened by a particularly harrowing New Years Eve. When Suzanne's work keeps her in Vancouver for the holiday, Nick offers to bring her kids to the city from Portland, Oregon. The kids, who have never liked any of the men their mom dates, are determined to turn the trip into a nightmare for Nick.

5.7

Year:

2005

Alfie

A tale of a philosophical womanizer who is forced to question his seemingly carefree existence.

5.8

Year:

2004

Baadasssss!

Director Mario Van Peebles chronicles the complicated production of his father Melvin's classic 1971 film, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song." Playing his father in the film, Van Peebles offers an unapologetic account of Melvin's brash and sometimes deceptive conduct on the set of the film, including questionable antics like writing bad checks, tricking a local fire department and allowing his son, Mario, to shoot racy sex scenes at the age of 11.

6.5

Year:

2004

Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend

Cast and crew offer up a nice overview piece, discussing the picture's authenticity, real life in the time of "Boyz n the Hood," the parallels between Singleton's real life and his film, the process of making the film, the casting process, the quality of the script, the film's reception, its Oscar nominations, and its legacy.

4.5

Year:

2003

Sightings: Heartland Ghost

The crew of a reality-TV show about the paranormal visits a small Kansas town to investigate a house that may be haunted.

4.8

Year:

2002

Big Momma's House

When a street-smart FBI agent is sent to Georgia to protect a beautiful single mother and her son from an escaped convict, he is forced to impersonate a crass Southern granny known as Big Momma in order to remain incognito.

5.8

Year:

2000

If These Walls Could Talk 2

The stories of three lesbian couples -- who live in the same house at different periods of time -- who are at a crossroads in their lives. In 1961, Edith loses her lover, Abby, to a stroke. Linda and Amy struggle with feminist issues in 1972. And, in 2000, Kal and Fran try to have a baby with the help of sperm donor.

6.6

Year:

2000

Boiler Room

A college dropout gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm and is on the fast track to success—but the job might not be as legitimate as it sounds.

6.7

Year:

2000

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy

A close-knit group of gay friends share the emotional roller coster of life, relationships, the death of friends, new beginnings, jealousy, fatherhood and professional success. At various stages of life's disarray, these young men share humorous and tragic relationships and always have each other to rely on.

6.4

Year:

2000

The Secret Laughter of Women

Oscar-winner Colin Firth stars in this heart-warming cross-cultural romantic comedy set in the idyllic South of France. Nimi, a beautiful Nigerian single mother to son Sammy, is under pressure from her family to find a suitable husband and who better than the local Reverend? After making friends with Matthew, a British comic-book writer and one of his heros, Sammy has other ideas. He successfully plots to get them together but they've still a few obsticles to overcome. (from Amazon)

4.7

Year:

1999

The Best Man

After writing a soon-to-be bestselling novel, writer and committed bachelor Harper attempts to hide the fact that his saucy new book is loosely based on the lives and loves of his tight-knit group of friends. Harper is set to be best man at his friend Lance's wedding, and all his friends will be in attendance. When an advance copy of the book makes its way into the hands of his ex-flame, Jordan, Harper attempts to keep it under wraps.

6.7

Year:

1999

Held Up

What should have been a romantic getaway turns into one hilarious debacle after another when Michael's woman dumps him in the desert where he gets carjacked by a teenager and he is taken hostage in a stickup at the local Sip and Zip.

5.5

Year:

1999

Stigmata

A young woman with no strong religious beliefs, Frankie Paige begins having strange and violent experiences, showing signs of the wounds that Jesus received when crucified. When the Vatican gets word of Frankie's situation, a high-ranking cardinal requests that the Rev. Andrew Kiernan investigate her case. Soon Kiernan realizes that very sinister forces are at work, and tries to rescue Frankie from the entity that is plaguing her.

6.3

Year:

1999

In Too Deep

Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold on the city is undercover cop Jeffrey Cole. But as Cole takes on an assumed identity to penetrate Gittens' criminal empire, he makes a disturbing discovery -- he kind of likes being a gangster.

6.4

Year:

1999

Butter

Corrupt record company executives kill a singing sensation with a drug overdose rather than letting her leave their label and join another company. They then frame her cousin/manager for the murder forcing him to go on the run and to try to get the goods on the real killers.

2.8

Year:

1998

Soul Food

Traditional Sunday dinners at Mama Joe's (Irma P. Hall) turn sour when sisters Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), Bird (Nia Long) and Maxine (Vivica A. Fox) start bringing their problems to the dinner table in this ensemble comedy. When tragedy strikes, it's up to grandson Ahmad (Brandon Hammond) to pull the family together and put the soul back into the family's weekly gatherings.

6.3

Year:

1997

Hav Plenty

Lee Plenty is an almost broke would-be novelist and Havilland Savage is a rich and very beautiful woman and his friend. When she invites him to her home for New Year's Eve, they start to build up a romance.

6.0

Year:

1997

Love Jones

Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Moseley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "kicking it," they hang out with their friends, talking about love and sex. Then Nina tests the strength of Darius' feelings and sets a chain of romantic complications into motion.

7.5

Year:

1997

Friday

Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.

7.1

Year:

1995

Made in America

A young black woman discovers that her father was a sperm donor, and if that wasn't bad enough, he's white.

5.5

Year:

1993

Boyz n the Hood

In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...

7.6

Year:

1991

Buried Alive

A young woman goes to teach at the Ravenscroft Institute, a spooky old girls' school overrun by ants and staffed by some unusual types. Spurred on by a series of horrific hallucinations, she begins to investigate the mysterious disappearances of several students.

4.2

Year:

1989

The B.R.A.T. Patrol

A group of military brats uncovers a plot to steal base equipment.

5.6

Year:

1986