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Wren T. Brown

Wren T. Brown

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Wren T. Brown is descended from a long line of talented performers, including his father, jazz trumpeter Troy Brown Jr., his paternal grandmother, Bertha McElroy (a dancer at the Cotton Club), and his paternal grandfather, actor-comedian Troy Brown Sr. (Nothing Sacred). His maternal grandmother, Ruth Givens, was a singer and chorus girl and his maternal grandfather, Lee Young Sr., a drummer who was a member of the Nat King Cole Trio.

Brown puts his own entertaining spin on the family tradition as Courtney, the conservative lawyer and brother of Mavis Rae (series title star Whoopi Goldberg) on the new NBC comedy Whoopi. I am very pleased with Courtney's sense of family, protection of family, his pragmatic nature, intelligence, humor and self-confidence, said Brown. Having the opportunity to work with a national treasure like Whoopi Goldberg is truly a joy. Brown was only 11 when he landed his first commercial, but he stopped acting to pursue his dream of playing professional tennis. In 1982, at the age of 17, however, he reversed course, got his SAG card, and appeared in McDonald's first Chicken McNuggets campaign.

A versatile actor with a deep melodious voice, Brown debuted on television as a guest star on Knight Rider. His first appearance on the big screen came in 1987 in Hollywood Shuffle. Roles in numerous feature films soon followed, including The Night Before, The Hidden, The Dinner, Crossfire, Downtown," I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Warlock: the Armageddon, The Net, Under Siege II: Dark Territory, I'll Do Anything, Heart and Souls, Waiting to Exhale and Biker Boyz." Brown starred opposite Blair Underwood in the short film, Second Coming, and in the lead role of Algernon in the all-African-American film version of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Brown's TV movies include Dancing in September, Rebound: The Legend of Earl ‘The Goat' Manigault, Heroes of Desert Storm, Family of Spies and Nightmare in the Daylight. He has guest-starred in such TV series as NBC's The West Wing and Frasier, Half & Half, Resurrection Blvd., Ally McBeal, The Practice, Seinfeld, Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences and Family Law. He also narrates The Learning Channel series Scene of the Crime, the E! True Hollywood Story of Diana Ross and has voiced Disney's Br'er Rabbit.

Brown won a Dramalogue Award for his performance as Jaques in Shakespeare's As You Like It and performed in Burning Hope at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. He also appeared in On Borrowed Time at the Pasadena Playhouse and received a 2001 NAACP Image nomination for his work in Jeffrey's Plan. In 1999, Brown debuted as a producer with the feature film, Boesman & Lena. In 2000, he produced Diane Reeves' concert video of her Grammy Award-winning CD In the Moment. He has also produced several other stage productions and film shorts.

Brown has served on the national board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild, the Friends of Washington Preparatory High School and the Board of the Charles R. Drew University. A fourth-generation Angeleno, he lives in Southern California with his lawyer-wife and their three children.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2003.

Wren T. Brown Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayJune 11, 1964 (59)
SignGemini
BirthplaceLos Angeles, California, USA

Selected Filmography

Not Another Mistake
Hollywood Shuffle
The Night Before
Almost Dead
Downtown
Flipper The New Adventures- Season 1
Flipper: New Adventures 24 Hour Marathon
A Family of Spies
The Flight
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