Her extensive background in theatre includes Off-Broadway productions like Chicago, House of Lear and Romeo and Juliet. She also appeared in the television movies “The Loretta Claiborne Storyâ€, “Exiled†and “Mind Preyâ€.
[The Theatre]
Front Row Productions’ Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones are proud to announce that the role of Blanche DuBois, in their upcoming production of A Streetcar Named Desire will be played by seven-time NAACP Image award nominee, Nicole Ari Parker. This production is slated to hit the boards, Spring, 2012.
Theatre to be determined.
Tennessee Williams’ sultry drama, A Streetcar Named Desire is set against the sexy backdrop of New Orleans’ gritty French Quarter. It’s the tale of former school teacher and socialite Blanche DuBois –Nicole Ari Parker– as she’s forced to move in with her sister Stella and her animalistic husband Stanley, played by Blair Underwood.
But the fragile Blanche quickly gets a gritty life lesson in the seamy, steamy underbelly of 1940’s New Orleans. The legendary Terence Blanchard has signed on to provide an original soundscape for the production.
Streetcar was last seen on Broadway in 2005 starring Natasha Richardson, Amy Ryan and John C. Reilly. Front Row Production’s multi-racial production of A Streetcar Named Desire, is a follow-up to their highly successful Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which starred Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and James Earl Jones, and was directed by Debbie Allen.
The production subsequently moved to London’s West End –with Jones and Rashad joined by Sanaa Lathan as Maggie and Adrian Lester as Brick– where it was honored with the “What’s Onstage” and the prestigious “Olivier” awards for Best Revival.
Nicole Ari Parker is a well known actress who has appeared in many famous films such as Remember the Titans and Soul Food. Ms. Parker is as adept at portraying strong sexy women as she is at playing vulnerable and complicated characters.
She is best known for her outstanding performance as Teri Joseph of Showtime’s award-winning Soul Food and has displayed her acting range in several blockbuster and independent films. She has been featured in Touchstone Picture’s Remember the Titans, Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins with Martin Lawrence, Boogie Nights with Mark Wahlberg, the HBO Original Film Dancing in September and opposite Taye Diggs in Fox Searchlight’s Brown Sugar.
Parker starred opposite Eddie Murphy in Paramount Pictures’ Imagine That, and recently appeared with Rockmond Dunbar in Pastor Brown. She has also been featured in such independent films as 200 Cigarettes, Shooting Gallery’s Loving Jezebel, Subway Stories and Sebastian Cole, a winner at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.
Her extensive background in theatre includes Off-Broadway productions like Chicago, House of Lear and Romeo and Juliet. She also appeared in the television movies “The Loretta Claiborne Story”, “Exiled” and “Mind Prey”.
Parker always knew she wanted to be an actress. She began pursuing her dream at the Baltimore Actors Theatre and then it was on to Washington Ballet Company, before moving to New York to study further at New York University. She is a graduate of NYU’s famed Tisch School of the Arts. She has been nominated for seven NAACP Image Awards and had the pleasure of presenting President Bill Clinton with a Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony hosted by the NAACP.
She also received a special award at the Urban World Film Festival for Outstanding Body of Work as an Actress. Parker starred alongside former Soul Food co-star and real life spouse Boris Kodjoe in the Paramount/UPN sit-com, Second Time Around, effectively raising the bar for Hollywood power couples.
Some of Parker’s upcoming projects include 35 and Ticking;TV movie, “Big Mike”; and she will be appearing in an episode of the new television series, “Let’s Stay Together.” In January 2009, Parker was featured in People Magazine to introduce Sophie’s Voice Foundation the charitable organization she started with husband Boris to raise awareness about children and adults living with spina bifida.
www.sophiesvoicefoundation.org
