TV.com

Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon recently finished her second season on ABC's award-winning drama series, NYPD Blue, as Valerie Haywood, a no-nonsense, intelligent Assistant D.A. and love interest of Baldwin Jones (Henry Simmons). Last summer she starred opposite Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins in the Touchstone comedy, Bad Company, directed by Joel Schumacher.

Beauvais-Nilon first pulled heartstrings as the smart, ambitions and sassy young model, Cynthia Nichols, in the Aaron Spelling/FOX series Models, Inc. Following this role, she appeared in national commercials for Diet Coke and American Express with Jerry Seinfeld, and on MTV as a vixen in the R. Kelly music video. She then showcased her comedic talents by co-starring for five seasons as the drop-dead bombshell, Franchesca "Fancy" Monroe, in the WB Network's hit sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show. Other film credits include Disney's Double Take, opposite Orlando Jones and Eddie Griffin, and Second String, opposite Gil Bellows, Jon Voight and Richard T. Jones.

Born in St. Marc, Haiti, Beauvais-Nilon is the youngest of five sisters and two brothers. At age seven she immigrated to the U.S. with her mother and siblings. While her mother attended nursing school in New York, she stayed in a boarding school with a family in Massachusetts. Already fluent in French and Creole, Beauvais-Nilon learned English watching Sesame Street. When she was 16 her family moved to Miami, where she whet her appetite for acting through stage plays at school. She began modeling in print ads, catalogs and commercials at age 17. After signing with Ford Models in New York, she appeared in layouts for Avon, Clairol and Mary Kay Cosmetics, as well as a number of magazine layouts and catalogs.

Mother to a 12-year-old son, Oliver, Beauvais-Nilon spends her free time at the movies, playing volleyball and tennis and walking on the beach.