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University of Akron graduate Yvette Nicole Brown makes a good living from television, movies and ads
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Sunday, Dec 28, 2008
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Yvette Nicole Brown has what she considers a pretty low-key acting career. A major source of income is appearances in commercials. She sums up her movie roles as ''blink and you'll miss me.''
But even that kind of career has its perks. ''I literally bought my house with commercial work,'' she said. And even brief moments in movies can lead to tales about the likes of Jude Law and Matthew McConaughey.
Before we get to that Law story, you should know that Brown, a native of East Cleveland and a University of
Akron graduate, played Helen in Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh series. She was back for the recent reunion movie Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh, which drew an impressive 8.1 million viewers on Nick before making a quick leap to DVD.
Her upcoming films include Hotel for Dogs, with Emma Roberts and Don Cheadle; The Ugly Truth (Gerard Butler, Katherine Heigl) and Repossession Mambo, with Forest Whitaker and the previously mentioned Mr. Law.
Brown said she especially liked Repossession Mambo, a fantasy thriller, because she got to play a military leader named Rhodesia — ''with a wig and a scar on my face,'' she said. ''There is nothing on my resume that is like this.''
Asked if this meant she got to do shoot-em-up action scenes, she coyly added, ''There may be a weapon involved.''
But an even bigger thrill came when she met Law. Eager to express her admiration for his work, she said, ''Before I could get anything out, he said, 'Me and my kids love you.' He turns out to be a Drake & Josh fan.
''That Drake & Josh is a beautiful gift,'' she said. Asked if she would go back for future reunions, she said, ''I would go back for the next 50 years.''
As for McConaughey, Brown met him while playing one of his staffers in Tropic Thunder, the hit comedy from Ben Stiller. McConaughey is ''totally what you'd expect him to be: a relaxed surfer dude,'' she said.
But before they met, Brown had seen McConaughey telling Oprah Winfrey that he did not use deodorant. So, Brown said, ''I wanted to smell him.''
She did it subtly, when she got a hug from the actor. Her verdict: ''He has his own smell. . . . I love it.''
Of course, such light moments are an accompaniment to the hard work of maintaining a career. As she has said before, Brown is content not to be too famous — to stay in a place where tabloid reporters do not lurk — while still getting decent work.
''My goal is to work with good people,'' she said, and she often praises the people she works with. Heigl, in spite of her somewhat testy rep, ''was a doll,'' Brown said. And Butler ''is a hunk.''
She would still like to be a regular on a hit sitcom, and hopes to marry someday, and approaches everything with her faith, her optimism and her considerable sense of humor.
On that getting married thing: ''I'm actually dating,'' she said. ''I realized that, if I really want to be a wife, I have to date first.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Get the full article here.
Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 12:32 AM, 12/29/2008
how did matt m. stink ???racy wants to know???
akron, oh
Posted 11:53 AM, 12/29/2008
who's picture are they talking about???
The Great City in, OH
Posted 10:50 PM, 12/29/2008
I thought I was looking at Oprah Winfrey!
Posted 09:33 PM, 01/02/2009
I remember seeing her in commercials. The Pine Sol and the lottery numbers one comes to mind LOL. Good luck to you Yvette; hope to see you more in movies, TV and whatever else you want to do.
