Mo'Nique

Monique (born December 11, 1967), born Monique Imes and known mononymously as Mo'Nique, is an American comedian and Academy Award-winning actress. She debuted as a member of The Queens of Comedy and earned recognition as a stand-up comedian. In 2002, she received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. She transitioned to mainstream roles starring in the UPN series The Parkers (1999-2004) and the films Phat Girlz (2006) and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008).

Mo'Nique was born in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland, the youngest of four children of engineer Alice Imes and drug counselor Steven Imes Jr. She graduated from Milford Mill High School in 1985, attended Morgan State University, and graduated from the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland in 1987. Before acting, she worked as a customer service representative at the phone company MCI, and got her start in comedy at the Baltimore Comedy Factory Outlet when her brother Steve dared her to perform at an open mic night. She was featured on leading stand-up venues such as Showtime at the Apollo and Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam, and hosted Showtime at the Apollo as well as the beauty pageant series Mo'Nique's Fat Chance on Oxygen.

Mo'Nique was critically acclaimed for her performance in the film Precious (2009), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the fourth African-American woman to win the award, along with BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. After hosting her talk show The Mo'Nique Show (2009-2011), she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the HBO film Bessie (2015) and starred in Lee Daniels' Netflix film The Deliverance (2024). She is also the author of the best-selling book Skinny Women Are Evil.