Joy Bryant Biography

Raised in the Bronx, New York City by her grandmother Lorraine, Joy Bryant began studying dance at the age of three. Lorraine taught the little girl the importance of getting an education, so Joy earned a scholarship to the prestigious Westminster boarding school in Connecticut before going on to Yale.

However, when her grandmother died while Joy was in her freshman year, she lost her drive to study and decided to take time out to pursue a career in modelling. Having grown up poor, she was amazed at the amount of money she earned in her new profession.

Joy made her acting debut in 2001 on the MTV TV movie Carmen: A Hip-Hopera, then the following year she made her motion picture debut in Showtime, starring Robert DeNiro and Eddie Murphy. Roles in Antwone Fisher and Honey followed, before she landed a recurring role as Valerie Gallant on the hit TV medical series ER for one season from 2003 to 2004.

More roles in major motion pictures came her way, in Spider-Man 2, The Skeleton Key starring Kate Hudson and Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins with Martin Lawrence before she landed a starring role as Jasmine on NBC's Parenthood in 2010. She has been with the series for five seasons.

During hiatus from the show, she spends her time filming roles in movies such as Hit and Run (2012) and About Last Night (2014), as well as performing duties as one of Oxfam's Sisters on the Planet (SOP) Ambassadors. She represented Oxfam on Earth Day in 2009 on the National Mall in Washington, DC and traveled with Oxfam to Cambodia in 2010. Also in 2010, she co-hosted a benefit for Oxfam in Los Angeles.

On the small screen, she's had starring roles on series such as Rosewood (2016), Good Girls Revolt (2015-2016), Ballers (2018) and Trinkets (2019-2020).

Joy lives with her husband, stuntman Dave Pope, in a California mid-century ranch house in Glendale and their rescue dog, a pitbull mix.

Filmography:

About Last Night (2014)
Hit & Run (2012)
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
The Hunting Party (2007)
Haven (2006)
London (2006)
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
The Skeleton Key (2005)
Baadasssss! (2004)
Honey (2003)
Antwone Fisher (2002)
Showtime (2002)