Meagan Good

Meagan Monique Good (born August 8, 1981) is an American film and television actress and occasional film producer. Beginning her career at the age of four, Good has appeared in numerous commercials, television shows, feature films, and music videos. In 2013, she played the lead role as Joanna Locasto on the NBC drama series Deception. --- Good was born in Panorama City, Los Angeles,California. Her mother, Tyra Wardlow-Doyle, worked as Good's manager into her teens, and her father, Leondis "Leon" Good, is an LAPD police officer. According to Good, her maternal grandmother is "Jewish and African, so I guess that would be considered Creole. My mother's father was Cherokee and something else. My dad's mother's Puerto Rican and black, and his father was from Barbados." Good was raised in Canyon Country (now known as Santa Clarita), California, with her three siblings. She began her acting career around the age of four. In the early stages of her career, Good started out doing work as an extra on television shows such as Doogie Howser, M.D. and Amen. When she was thirteen, Good was cast in her first film, the 1995 hit Friday. Good first began to gain recognition for her performance as troubled teen Cisely Batiste in Kasi Lemmons' critically acclaimed 1997 film Eve's Bayou, which earned Good two award nominations, including her first NAACP Image Award nomination. After taking on small film and television roles for the next few years, Good would begin to transition into more mature roles in the early 2000s. From 1999 to 2003, she appeared as Nina on Nickelodeon's hit show Cousin Skeeter. Good later took on small roles in the films 3 Strikes and House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute. 2003 proved to be a major year for Good, as she landed roles in the action-drama Biker Boyz and the romantic-comedy Deliver Us from Eva, which helped her transition from child to adult actress. Good also appeared as the character Vanessa for five episodes during the third season of My Wife and Kids, before being replaced by Brooklyn Sudano for unknown reasons. In 2004, Good starred alongside Jordana Brewster, Sara Foster, and Jill Ritchie in the action film D.E.B.S., and for her performance received a Best Actress nomination at the 2005 Black Movie Awards. She also had small roles in The Cookout, Lance "Un" Rivera's directorial debut, and the teen dance film You Got Served. --- In early April 2012, Good became engaged to boyfriend DeVon Franklin, an executive for Columbia Pictures and a Seventh-day Adventist preacher. The two began dating in 2011 and were married on June 16, 2012, in Malibu, California. Good currently lives in Studio City, California. Although she was not raised in the church, Good is a Christian, considers herself a very spiritual person and has stated in numerous interviews that she will not do roles that she feels might "disappoint God". She explained in an interview that Jesus tops her hero list and the last book she read was the Bible.