Nicole Ari Parker

Nicole Ari Parker has been a busy actor in movies and television since the early 1990s and has worked with such filmmakers as Wim Wenders and Paul Thomas Anderson. Parker’s feature debut was as co-star with Laurel Holloman in writer-director Maria Maggenti’s Sundance-premiering hit, The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love (1995), which earned ($2.2 million) nearly ten times costs ($250,000). Parker was cast in a small role in Stonewall (1995), by late British director Nigel Finch for the BBC, and produced by Christine Vachon, grossing only over $692,000 globally.

Parker was cast by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders in the Los Angeles-set The End of Violence (1997), starring Bill Pullman, Andie MacDowell, and Gabriel Byrne, and premiering at the Cannes Film Festival before a disappointing commercial release by MGM. Nicole Ari Parker joined the sprawling ensemble of Paul Thomas Anderson’s dazzling comedy-drama, Boogie Nights (1997), starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Heather Graham, and nominated for three Oscars and grossing over $43 million globally, nearly three times $15 costs.,Paul Thomas

Parker had a small role in writer-director Tod Williams’ The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998), starring Adrian Grenier, Clark Gregg, Aleksa Palladino, Rory Cochrane, Famke Janssen, and Levon Helm, and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival before a limited release by Paramount Classics. Parker joined another large ensemble in the Risa Bramon Garcia-directed, Paramount-released 200 Cigarettes (1999), with Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dave Chapelle, Courtney Love, Jay Mohr, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci, Paul Rudd, which only grossed $7 million globally.

Parker had a larger supporting role in writer-director Kwyn Bader’s rom-com, Loving Jezebel (1999), distributed by Universal Focus and co-starring Hill Harper, Laurel Holloman, Sandrine Holt, and Phylicia Rashad, but earning a poor $72,000 gross. Another supporting role for Parker in a prestige specialty film was the adaptation of Jane Hamilton’s novel, A Map of the World (1999), starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, David Strathairn, Arliss Howard, Chloë Sevigny, and Louise Fletcher, and premiering at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Nicole Ari Parker’s busy film career continued with a supporting role in the Martin Lawrence-starring buddy cop comedy, Blue Streak (1999), directed by Les Mayfield and co-starring Luke Wilson, Dave Chappelle, and William Forsythe, and earning a healthy $177.7 million on a $36 million budget. Parker then was cast in the hit football drama starring Denzel Washington, Remember the Titans (2000), directed by Boaz Yakin, and featuring Will Patton, Donald Faison, Ryan Gosling, and Kate Bosworth, grossing $136.8 million for distributor Disney.

Parker had a large supporting role in the successful rom-com, Brown Sugar (2002), directed by Rick Famuyiwa and co-starring Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan, with Mos Def and Queen Latifah, grossing a solid $28.3 million on an $8 million budget. Parker was then in the commercial bomb, King’s Ransom (2005), with Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, and Faison, grossing only $4.1 million worldwide. Nicole Ari Parker joined the big-name comedy ensemble of writer-director Malcolm D. Lee’s Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008), with Martin Lawrence, Margaret Avery, Joy Bryant, Louis C.K., Michael Clarke Duncan, Mike Epps, Mo’Nique, Cedric the Entertainer, and James Earl Jones, grossing a weak $43.6 million on a $35 million budget.

Parker played Mahogany Black in the blaxploitation comedy, Black Dynamite (2009), co-written and directed by Scott Sanders and co-starring Michael Jai White (who also co-wrote the story), Tommy Davidson, and Salli Richardson, with a poor box-office take of just under $300,000. The Paramount-Nickelodeon co-production, Imagine That (2009) featured Parker in a supporting role opposite star Eddie Murphy, with Thomas Haden Church, Yara Shahidi, Ronny Cox, and Martin Sheen, but tanked at the box office with a poor $23 million result.

After the little-seen rom-com, 35 & Ticking (2011), with Tamala Jones, Kevin Hart, and Meagan Good, Parker was cast opposite Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie, Mike Epps, and Sanaa Lathan in writer-director Philippe Caland’s horror movie, Repentance (2013), grossing $1.18 million globally. Parker joined the ensemble of the comedy-drama, Almost Christmas (2016), written and directed by David E. Talbert, co-starring Kimberly Elise, Danny Glover, Mo’Nique, J.B. Smoove, and Gabrielle Union, earning distributor Universal a profitable $42.6 million return. In her first starring role in a theatrically-released feature, Parker led the ensemble of writer-producer-director Kim Bass’s comedy, A Snowy Day in Oakland (2023), with Elise, Deon Cole, and Loretta Devine.