Where Are They Now? Cast of “Girlfriends”

By: Leticia Latrice

From 2000-2008 black women could tune in once a week to a funny, realistic, heart felt episodes of “Girlfriends”. The show reminds you of being in a hair salon, at happy hour or a coffee shop full of tea with your girls. The life and intricacies of a black woman is hard to explain to the general public. Either you get it or you don’t. The show’s writer Mara Brock Akil did an excellent job of accurately expressing what the day in the life of a black woman is about.

The four main characters represent the common personality’s types of a black woman.  You had Lynn (Persia White) who was a free spirit, naturalist and a little light headed.  Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross) who was a high power corporate woman carrying the world on her shoulders. Maya (Golden Brooks) was a dedicated mother and wife. Then last but not least Toni (Jill Marie Jones) who was the booshie, high class and high maintenance sista. Black women in America could relate to each character in one way or the other. It was a privilege to see successful, intelligent, real black woman on main stream TV once a week. Unfortunately the show was cancelled in 2008 and if you wondered what is the cast doing now here is an update.

Once the four girlfriends filmed their final episodes, what became of the stars?

After taking a bit of break, Tracee Ellis Ross found a way for lighting to strike twice by landing another role in a hit sitcom.  She stars along side Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne  in the ABC’s hit series Blackish.  Ross has also been buys for the past three years  co-hosting the Black Girls Rock Awards Show with Regina Hall.

Golden Brooks has had several roles in films and television shows such as Ruby and My B.F.F.  and can be seen in recurring roles on TV One’s reality series “Hollywood Divas”.  Brooks was in the running to land a role on the upcoming “Lethal Weapon” television series but lost out to fellow “Girlfriends” alum Keesha Sharp who used to play Williams bossy wife Monica.

Persia White has co-produced an award winning documentary called Earthlings and won an award for her role in the movie Dysfunctional Friends. She also had a semi-reoccurring role on the CW’s long running Vampire Diaries as the character “Abby Bennett Wilson”.  White’s character was killed off after a year, but in real life she married one of her co-stars Joseph Morgan after three years of dating.

Jill Marie Jones had a reoccurring role on FOX’s Sleepy Hollow and is  currently starring as “Amanda Fisher” in the  Starz horror comedy Ash vs Evil Dead. Jones has also landed some big screen roles  like  in “The Perfect Holiday” opposite Queen Latifah and Morris Chestnut.

And how could we leave out “William” who wasn’t really a girlfriend by gender, but definitely one of the friends we looked forward to seeing each week.  Actor Reggie Hayes hilariously and flawlessly played the character of  “William Dent”  each week and his work in the role earned him three NAACP Image Awards for Best Supporting Actor.  After girlfriends, Hayes continued guest roles on shows like “Criminal Minds:, “NCIS and “The First Family”.  He’s also made the leap to a few silver screen films like last year’s “Carter High” in which he played Mr. Russeau.

There was a wild rumor floating around for a while that the gang would all be reuniting for “Girlfriends The Movie”, but the talk has died down and so have the hopes of fans even though the shows creator said she was very open to the idea. Still, we have our reruns and memories of the classic show.

It is great to see the ladies still making big moves in their acting careers. We appreciate the mark they made in television by honorably reppin the sistas for eight years strong!

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