Gabrielle Union lost out on Scandal and gained a show of her own
When Gabrielle Union auditioned to play Olivia Pope in Scandal, the part went to Kerry Washington. Along the way she heard about a different project, Being Mary Jane, and it became her own starring series and won her an NAACP Image Award. As she put it, she got something better.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, on October 29, 1972, Union grew up in a family obsessed with Cornhusker football, then moved to Pleasanton, California, where she played soccer, basketball and track at Foothill High School. Her mother, a phone company manager and social worker, pushed her toward independence and a wide view of the world. As one of the few Black children around her, she struggled with self-esteem and once believed that blonde was the only kind of beauty. She went on to earn a sociology degree at UCLA.
Her acting began with small television parts. Her very first audition was for Saved by the Bell, and she later played a Klingon on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and turned up on Friends and 7th Heaven. Small parts in two 1999 teen comedies, 10 Things I Hate About You and She's All That, led to her breakthrough as Isis in the cheerleading comedy Bring It On. She took her first lead in Deliver Us from Eva in 2003 and the same year played Syd in Bad Boys II, which grossed more than $273 million worldwide.
Romantic comedies became a strength, from The Brothers to Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, a part written with her in mind, and the Think Like a Man films. She also played Geneva Wade, later the wife of Muddy Waters, in Cadillac Records. She has spoken candidly about Hollywood, noting how fiercely actresses of every background now compete for the same shrinking pool of roles. After Being Mary Jane ran from 2013 to 2019, she led the crime series L.A.'s Finest.
Union has written two memoirs, We're Going to Need More Wine and You Got Anything Stronger?, plus two children's books. A survivor of sexual assault at 19, she successfully sued the store where it happened for negligence and has become an advocate on women's health, LGBTQ+ equality and violence against women. With her husband, basketball star Dwyane Wade, she received the NAACP President's Award, and in 2020 Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Source: Gabrielle Union
