Joy Bryant

Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman, and fashion model born on October 18, 1974. She is known for her work across film, television, and fashion modeling. Over the course of her acting career, she has earned two NAACP Image Award nominations and one Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Bryant was born in the Bronx, New York, to Joyce Bryant and was raised by her grandmother. She began dancing at age three, attended CJHS 145x, and participated in the Fieldston Enrichment Program. She graduated from the Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut, where she was president of the Latin club. Bryant subsequently earned a scholarship to Yale University, where she studied for two years before leaving to pursue modeling. She later completed her degree and graduated from Yale.

Her modeling career began when a scout from Next Model Management discovered her while she was enrolled at Yale. She debuted in Seventeen magazine and worked in Paris. Bryant appeared in advertisements for Gap, Victoria's Secret, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Rocawear, signed with CoverGirl in 2006, and walked runways for Givenchy and Tommy Hilfiger. She co-hosted BET's 2009 Rip the Runway and graced covers of magazines such as Teen Vogue and Complex.

Bryant made her acting debut in Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001). Her breakthrough occurred when Denzel Washington cast her as a U.S. Navy sailor in Antwone Fisher (2002). She followed this with roles in ER, Baadasssss! (2003), Honey (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004), The Skeleton Key (2005), Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), Bobby (2006), and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008). She also starred in music videos for artists such as Santana and Usher.

From 2010 to 2015, Bryant played Jasmine Trussell in NBC's drama series Parenthood for its entire six-season run. She co-starred in the comedy film About Last Night (2014) and later held roles in Rosewood, What Would Diplo Do?, Girls, Ballers, and Trinkets. Between 2012 and 2014, she hosted her action talk web series, Across the Board with Joy Bryant.

Beyond acting and modeling, Bryant co-founded a production company in 2016 and launched the production company Hot Sauce in 2021. In 2014, she and her husband Dave Pope launched the clothing line Basic Terrain. Bryant has written essays for Lenny Letter and Refinery29 and serves as an ambassador for Oxfam's Sisters on the Planet. She married Pope in June 2008.