Nicole Ari Parker

thumb Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. Quotes I hate this part of the business! I do not like taking photographs. I still have like a sixth-grade relationship with the camera…I’m not sure how to smile, and I swear I have a droopy eye. But I have to try to love my eye and go with it! It’s like a self-help moment. Oh, this is an audience who likes to go back and re-watch the loop and circle and connect the dots! There’s some fact-checking going on. They’ll go all the way back and find out that the T-shirt that Carrie was wearing was thrown in the trash—and they don’t like that! Why is she wearing it again? The same thing I tell myself now: ‘You got this.’ I have to go into rooms and reveal something in order to work. It’s a very humbling and thrilling experience. I have to give something and leave something in the room. Then, with all the powers that be, going up the food chain, someone has to make a decision. It’s not always easy. I would maybe encourage my younger self to write more, to create more of my own work or produce plays that I love. Who cares where it is, as long as I’m getting it out. If I need to play Yelena, go do it. I do stay in class, though—that is big for me. One of my professors from NYU, Tony Greco, he still teaches and I will still go. It starts in August. Wish me luck. Anyone with kids will tell you this: Your kids just know their mom. They want me at basketball practice, or they want me to bake a cake, or I’m reading an email from school that a paper is due tomorrow that I had no idea about. It was—and is—a very real household. My kids are 18 and 20 now, but they’re here for the summer.” Exclusive: Nicole Ari Parker Talks 20-Plus Year Marriage, ‘And Just Like That…’ Criticism and the Power of Sticking Around for a ‘Yes’;By Liz Ritter on Aug 14, 2025 External links Category:Actresses from Baltimore Category:Living people Category:1978 births Category:Models from the United States Category:Women born in the 1970s Category:New York University alumni Category:African Americans