Nia Long

In the Beginning

Nitara Carlynn Long was born October 30, 1970, to Doc and Talita Long of Brooklyn New York. She is of Trinidadian Descent. Her parents divorced before she had even turned three years old. Upon divorcing, her mother moved the two of them to Iowa. Only to move again years later to South Central Los Angeles.

Their Struggle

Nitaras mother Talita had earned two master degrees, but still had trouble finding a job. Upon arrival to Los Angeles, Talita took various low paying jobs to earn a living. Due to the lack of work, Nitara and Talita had a hard struggle ahead of them.

Nia’s Hobbies

In her childhood Nitara picked up the nickname Nia. Nia’s childhood was blessed with an array of hobbies. These hobbies included ballet, tap, gymnastics, acting, guitar, and jazz. In all of this Nia even made time for the Girl Scouts. She was a very talented child, and driven to success with a desire to help her mother.

Onto the Big Screen

Nia’s acting career was started by a woman named Betty A. Bridges. She is the mother of the famous child star Todd Bridges. Todd was best known for his role in Diff’rent Strokes. Betty was Nia’s acting coach for fifteen years.

Nia got her television start on the soap opera Guiding Light. She played her part for two years, and then landed the role of Lisa on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Her transition from the sitcom world onto the silver screen, was in 1991 when she played alongside Cuba Gooding Jr, in John Singleton’s groundbreaking Boyz in the Hood.

Since then her career has sky rocketed. With the new millennium she was named by people magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. And later that year, won third place in Black Magazine as the 10 sexiest women of the year.

In the years that Nia has been acting, she has played her part in more than 46 different movies, and TV series. She has got to work with many different actors including Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, and Susan Sarandon.