- Born
- Birth nameCarol Denise Ensley
- Nickname
- Niecy
- Height5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
- Niecy Nash was born on February 23, 1970 in Palmdale, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Reno 911! (2003), Guess Who (2005) and Claws (2017). She has been married to Jessica Betts since August 29, 2020. She was previously married to Jay Tucker and Don Nash.
- SpousesJessica Betts(August 29, 2020 - present)Jay Tucker(May 28, 2011 - March 10, 2020) (divorced)Don Nash(May 14, 1994 - June 17, 2007) (divorced, 3 children)
- Children
- Parents
- RelativesMario Graham(Cousin)
- Often wears a flower in her hair
- Voluptuous bombshell figure
- She is the front person for M.A.V.I.S. (Mothers Against Violence in Schools), which was founded by her mother in 1993, following the tragic death of her younger brother, who was shot and killed on his high school campus. M.A.V.I.S. aims to inform the public of the violence children encounter on school campuses.
- She decided she wanted to be an actress when she was five years old and saw Black actress Lola Falana on television.
- Has 3 children: son, Dominic Nash (b. December 12, 1991) and daughters, Donielle Nash (b. January 9, 1995) & Dia Nash (b. September 28, 1999) with ex-husband, Don Nash.
- Her previous job was working at an airline, booking reservations.
- Received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama from California State University, Dominquez Hills in Carson, California.
- Acting is the call of my life, I felt like I didn't have any other choice. I wasn't committed to anything else.
- [speaking about how she was introduced to the idea of becoming a comedian while a guest on the National Public Radio program, "Fresh Air", in 2015] And I will say that when my brother was murdered in '93, my mother went into a very severe depression. And she said, "I'm getting in the bed and I'm never getting back out." And all I knew was that I could make my mother laugh. I never realized that comedy was a gift because I always got in trouble because I got talks too much on my report card or I got pinched for cracking jokes in church. And so when my mother went into this depression, what I started to do was I would go to the foot of her bed every day and I would perform. And I would do characters, I would do voices, I would do a comedy routine, I would dance, I would sing. My mother went from laying down in the bed to sitting up in the bed. And she said, "I got my peanuts and my water. Go on and do your rendition of things." So I just kept performing. Then one day I come and my mother's not in the bed. And I'm like "Mama, where are you?" She's like "we're in here." And I'm like "who is we?" "Well, I went across the street and got the neighbors. I told them you was funny. Get that karaoke microphone and tell these people some jokes." And I'm like "what?" So I get the microphone, I'm standing on top of the fireplace. I'm like, tapping the mic, "is this thing on? How's everybody doing in the living room" was my first bit in front of an audience. And I realized, as I was standing on that fireplace, that comedy was a gift. I did not know that before. And I'm not going to tell you that it healed my mother, but what I am going to say is that it kind of served as a Spackle or a salve when it comes to piecemealing something back together. And so I had been going out auditioning because in my mind, I wanted to do only dramatic work. I never saw myself being a comedian. I wanted to be Cicely Tyson. If you equate it to someone of this day, it would be a Viola Davis. But I couldn't book any work. And after I stood on that fireplace, I heard a voice as audible as my own speak to me and say, "Niecy, don't be selfish. It's other people outside who are suffering. You need to go outside and spread this around, Niecy.".
- [on Claws (2017)] So many times when you are a woman in a television show, you're after a man. The men are leading the charge and the men are doing all of these great things in the story and the woman's just kind of there as an action piece. Well, the thing about our show is that the women are leading the charge. The women are full, independently full. They have lives. The other thing I love about our show is that most of our cast are women of a certain age and we're still viable and funny and sexy and we're all of these amazing things: complicated, conflicted, and we're enough. We're enough.
- I found out very early on that the most powerful word in this business is "no".
- I don't want to be a sassy black anything. I don't want to be a sassy black mama. I don't want to be a sassy black neighbor. I don't want to be a sassy black friend. There's so many more notes to be played.
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