My Life In Characters

‘Real Housewives’ Star Garcelle Beauvais on Her Most Memorable Roles

The actress dishes on karaoke outings with former co-stars from ‘The Jamie Foxx Show’ and being showered with flowers from Luther Vandross

Garcelle Beauvais attends the Los Angeles premiere of Focus Features’ “Emma.” held at DGA Theater on February 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic/Getty Images

If your family had subscriptions to Black print magazines in the early 1990s, you likely knew Garcelle Beauvais’ face long before you knew her name. By the time she was cast in her first regular TV role in 1994’s prime time soap opera, Models Inc., a generation of Black girls were already captivated by the young model who graced the cover of Essence and appeared in print ads in Ebony. With The Jamie Foxx Show, Beauvais became a household favorite playing Foxx’s love interest before transitioning into drama with a role on NYPD Blue and in the film Flight, where she played the ex-wife of an addiction-plagued pilot portrayed by Denzel Washington.

Now in her fourth decade in Hollywood, Beauvais is set for what may be her wildest role yet: starring in the new season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. One of the most accomplished actors to join any one of the insanely-popular Real Housewives franchises, Beauvais’ tagline says it all, “Life is an audition and honey, I am getting that part.”