Lela Rochon

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Lela Rochon bigraphy, stories - Film

Lela Rochon : biography

April 17, 1964 –

Lela Rochon (born Lela Rochon Staples; April 17, 1964) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Robin Stokes in the movie Waiting to Exhale.

In 1996, Lela was chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the "50 most beautiful people in the world".

Personal life

Rochon was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Zelma, a nurse practitioner, and Samuel Staples, a business owner and graphic artist.. Filmreference.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-12. She graduated Cerritos High School in Cerritos, California. She attended California State University, Dominguez Hills where she earned a BA in Broadcast Journalism, with minors in Sociology and Theatre.

From 1984–1986, she was married to dancer Adolfo Quinones. In 1998, she and director Antoine Fuqua were engaged and they married on April 9, 1999. After a miscarriage, daughter Asia Rochon Fuqua was born on July 28, 2002, followed by son Brando in May 2004. Fuqua has son Zachary from a previous relationship.

Career

From 1986–1988, while in college, Rochon was one of the "Spudettes" featured in over 30 national spots for the Spuds Mckenzie Budweiser/Bud Light TV commercials. She also appeared in the 1985 TV film, A Bunny’s Tale (starring Kirstie Alley and Delta Burke) based on Gloria Steinem’s experiences as a Playboy Bunny; and appeared as the love interest of Gerald Levert in the video for "My Forever Love" by Levert, and on Luther Vandross’s "It’s Over Now" video. She also appeared in the music video for Lionel Richie’s single "All Night Long (All Night)" as well as in Al B. Sure’s video for the song "Natalie". She had many small roles in television shows and made her film debut in 1989 when she starred opposite Eddie Murphy in Harlem Nights as the memorable "Sunshine" and later again with Murphy in the successful romantic comedy Boomerang. Rochon starred for the first season of The Wayans Bros. television series. Her biggest break came in 1995 when she landed one of the lead roles in the adaptation of the Terry McMillan novel and highly successful film Waiting to Exhale in which she played the character "Robin", for which she was nominated for a MTV Movie Award, "Best Breakthrough Performance". In 1996 she starred opposite Timothy Hutton in the Showtime movie Mr. and Mrs. Loving and received a Cable Ace nomination for Best Actress. She has since done many other films including Any Given Sunday, The Chamber, Gang Related with Tupac Shakur and Jim Belushi, and Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Knock Off, and The Big Hit as love interest to Mark Wahlberg. In 2004 she starred in First Daughter with Katie Holmes, and Brooklyn’s Finest in 2009. She also had a role in the TV series The Division in 2001

Filmography

  • Breakin’ (1984) (uncredited)
  • Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1985)
  • A Bunny’s Tale (1985)
  • Stewardess School (1986)
  • The Cosby Show (1987) (TV series)
  • Harlem Nights (1989)
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1991) (TV series)
  • Boomerang (1992)
  • The Meteor Man (1993)
  • The Wayans Bros. (1995) (TV series)
  • Waiting to Exhale (1995)
  • Mr. & Mrs. Loving (1996)
  • The Chamber (1996)
  • Gang Related (1997)
  • Why Do Fools Fall In Love? (1998)
  • Knock Off (1998)
  • The Big Hit (1998)
  • Ruby bridges (1998)
  • Any Given Sunday (1999)
  • The Division (2001) (TV series)
  • First Daughter (2004)
  • Running Out of Time in Hollywood (2006)
  • Balancing the Books (2008)
  • Brooklyn’s Finest (2009)
  • Blood Done Sign My Name (2010)
  • Let The Church Say Amen (2013)