Mo'Nique portrayed Nicole "Nikki" Parker on the UPN television series
The Parkers from 1999 to 2004. She was featured on many leading stand-up venues, such as
Showtime at the Apollo, ''
Russell Simmons'
Def Comedy Jam, and Thank God You're Here''. Mo'Nique tackles race issues in her stand up routines, for instance at the Montreal Just For Laugh Festival in 2000: "White and black people, we're just mad at each other, we don't know why we're mad at each other. We're not each other's enemy. We're not the enemy. It's the Chinese people we need to watch out for". In 2005, Mo'Nique played a significant role in Tony Scott's thriller
Domino, co-starring
Keira Knightley and
Mickey Rourke. In 2006, Mo'Nique was cast as the lead in
Phat Girlz, a comedy about an aspiring fashion designer struggling to find love and acceptance. The film was met with lukewarm response from critics and fans. It did earn back its $3 million production cost in its first weekend of release. |247x247px Mo'Nique's first play was
Eve Ensler's
Obie Award-winning production of
The Vagina Monologues in March 2002. Mo'Nique,
Ella Joyce (
Roc);
Wendy Raquel Robinson (
The Steve Harvey Show and
The Game) and
Vanessa Bell Calloway (''
What's Love Got to Do with It), were the first all black celebrity cast to perform The Vagina Monologues''. Produced by YYP & Associates, the show was directed by playwright and director Yetta Young as well as co-produced by Kellie R. Griffin, Lisa D. Washington and Anita Cal. Mo'Nique is the author of the best-selling book
Skinny Women Are Evil: Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World. She also released a 2006 cookbook called ''Skinny Cooks Can't Be Trusted''. Mo'nique was part of the Washington, D.C., WHUR radio show with George Wilborn. In 2006, she occasionally filled in for afternoon personality
Michael Baisden when his contract with
ABC Radio was in the process of getting renewed. She was also named hostess of
Showtime at the Apollo. She was the hostess and executive producer of ''
Mo'Nique's Fat Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women, on the Oxygen cable network. She hosted the first season of Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School on VH1'' where she crowned
Saaphyri as the winner. Mo'Nique's 2007 documentary
I Coulda Been Your Cellmate! focuses on incarcerated women. In interviews with individual women, she touches on the common factors that bring many women into the penal system. The documentary was related to her filming a comedy special at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, also known as The Farm. In 2007, she had a guest-starring role on the hit television series
Ugly Betty as L'Amanda, Mode's weekend security guard. She starred in ''
The Mo'Nique Show'', her own late-night talk show. Taped in Atlanta, the show premiered October 5, 2009, on BET. She was featured in soul singer
Anthony Hamilton's video "
Sista Big Bones", the second single from his album ''
Ain't Nobody Worryin'''. She hosted the 2003 and 2004 BET Awards and appeared as the host again for the 2007 BET Awards. She received positive responses in July 2004 with her opening performance of
Beyoncé's single "
Crazy in Love" In 2007, she performed Beyoncé's "
Déjà Vu". Mo'Nique has had a number of supporting roles in film. She appeared in the 2008 comedy film,
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins with
Martin Lawrence. She has had roles in
Beerfest,
3 Strikes,
Two Can Play That Game,
Half Past Dead, and
Soul Plane. She voiced a character in
Garfield: The Movie, but her role was cut from the movie. In 2008, Mo'Nique stated on
Oprah Winfrey Show that
Martin Lawrence gave her invaluable advice about show business: "He pulled me to the side and he said, 'Listen, don't ever let them tell you what you can't have.' Since that day, I've made some of the best deals I've ever made in my career because it keeps ringing in my head...It will stay with me forever." In 2008,
Radio One signed her to her own radio show: ''Mo'Nique in the Afternoon
(or The Mo'Nique Show''), which premiered on several Radio One-owned
Urban Adult Contemporary-formatted R&B/soul radio stations in July 2008. It mainly aired on these stations that had a local lineup because some Radio One stations did not carry it due to their contracts with Michael Baisden. The show lasted until March 18, 2009, when Mo'Nique decided to leave to "further her career in television, film, and comedy." In 2009, Mo'Nique appeared in the film
Precious, directed by
Lee Daniels, portraying an inner-city teenager's abusive mother. Her performance garnered her the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the
Independent Spirit Award, and the
BAFTA Award, as well as the
Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize, the
African-American Film Critics Association's (AAFCA) first ever unanimous vote in an acting category and recognition from
Time magazine, who ranked her performance as the Best Female Performance of 2009. In November 2009, Mo'Nique said, "I own the rights to
Hattie McDaniel's life story, and I can't wait to tell that story because that woman was absolutely amazing. She had to stand up to the adversity of black and white [society] at a time when we really weren't accepted. Mr. Lee Daniels is going to direct it, of course, and I'm going to be Miss Hattie McDaniel. I really hope I can do that woman justice." In 2014, Mo'Nique starred in
Patrik-Ian Polk's drama film
Blackbird as Claire Rousseau. She next starred as
Ma Rainey in the
biographical film Bessie in 2015, for which she received critical acclaim, earning her a
Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Her last roles (in film or television) were in 2016. In May 2017, she said Lee Daniels, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyler Perry had been blackballing her ever since she did not promote
Precious in 2009. In 2022, it was announced that Mo'Nique was to star in the
Lee Daniels' horror/thriller
The Deliverance with
Andra Day,
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor,
Omar Epps, Miss Lawrence, and
Tasha Smith. ==Personal life==