Sharon Brown

Sharon Brown, born Sharon Catherine Blanks on January 11, 1962, in New York, New York, is an American actress of stage, film, and television whose Broadway career has spanned from 1968 to 2025. She is the daughter of actor Johnny Brown, who played Nathan Bookman on the 1970s sitcom Good Times, and June Brown, a studio manager. She has a brother, John Brown Jr. Brown attended Hollywood High School, where she performed in school productions including the role of Mame Dennis in Mame and Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town.

Brown built a substantial career as a stage actress, taking on the role of Effie in both Broadway and touring productions of Dreamgirls. Her performance in the touring production earned her a Helen Hayes Award nomination in 1987 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non-Resident Production. On Broadway, she starred in The Notebook and Jekyll & Hyde, and appeared in Days of Wine and Roses, Maggie Flynn, and Rent, among other productions. Her stage work also includes the role of Violet in Maggie Flynn, the narrator in productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and touring engagements with The Wiz, Rent, and Jekyll & Hyde.

Her film credits include A Chorus Line (1985), For Keeps (1988), Sister Act 2 (1993), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999). On television, Brown played Daisy on the CBS soap opera Love of Life in 1971 and originated the role of Chantel on the NBC soap Generations, which she held from 1989 to 1990. In 1981, she portrayed a young Louise in a flashback episode of The Jeffersons titled "And the Doorknobs Shined Like Diamonds." Her episodic television appearances include Good Times, A Different World, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Brown married Billy Blanks Jr., son of Tae Bo fitness personality Billy Blanks. Together they taught at fitness studios in Sherman Oaks, California, and produced a series of fitness videos. In 2014, Blanks presented the fitness program on Shark Tank and accepted a deal. The couple have an adopted son named Elijah. They divorced in 2016.