Adrienne Monique Coleman, known professionally as Monique Coleman, is an
American actress, dancer, singer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist best
known for her co-starring role in Disney's High School Musical movies, in
which she plays Taylor McKessie. Coleman also had a recurring role on The Suite
Life of Zack & Cody, as a school girl named Mary–Margaret, along with Vanessa
Hudgens. She also competed in the third edition of ABC's Dancing with the Stars,
finishing in fourth place. Most recent, Coleman was named the first ever UN
Youth Champion for the International Year of Youth and is currently on a
world tour to raise awareness of challenges facing youth. Coleman
launched her online talk show Gimme Mo', a show dedicated to empowering today's
youth on September 8, 2010. Early life and education
Coleman was born Adrienne Monique Coleman in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
She started her acting career in theatre and television at a very young age in
Columbia, South Carolina. She currently lives in Los Angeles. Her training began
at the Workshop Theatre School of Dramatic Arts where she performed in
over 15 plays. An acting class taught by a guest teacher actually turned out to
be an audition, and resulted in her booking her first commercial. Then
Coleman began auditioning for anything she could in the Southeast region,
landing several local and regional commercials, as well as a few supporting
roles in films. In addition to acting, Coleman was very involved in her
community and school where she did everything from performing in plays to
competing in forensic tournaments, volunteering with abused children,
running track, and even cheerleading . Monique Coleman went to Heathwood Hall
Episcopal School. Then she attended The Theatre School at DePaul University in
Chicago, earning her BFA in Acting in 2002.
Monique Coleman also visited the American Farm School in Greece in 2012.
Career Coleman made her first lead in the
independent feature entitled Mother of the River which was shot in the historic
Charleston, South Carolina. The film won numerous awards at film festivals in
Chicago. Two years later, Coleman appeared as Young Donna in The Family
Channel Movie The Ditch digger's Daughters for which she was nominated
for a Young Artists Award of Hollywood. During her sophomore year of high
school, Coleman wrote, directed, produced, and starred in her own
one-person play entitled "Voices from Within" with standing room only –
audience numbering in the hundreds. On stage in Chicago, Coleman starred in
productions of Noises Off, Polaroid Stories, The Real Thing and The Colored
Museum. In 2005, Coleman had the honor of
working opposite one of her heroes – the legendary James Earl Jones when she
played Leesha in the 2005 Hallmark TV Movie The Reading Room. She received a
2006 Camie Award for the role and represented the film at the NAACP Image
Awards. In 2006, Coleman rose to prominence in
High School Musical, where she portrayed Taylor McKessie, the best friend of the
new girl, Gabriella Montez. Before then, she was a recurring guest star in The
Suite Life of Zack & Cody episodes, "Forever Plaid", "Not So Suite 16",
"Neither a Borrower Nor a Speller Bee" and "A Prom Story" along with Hudgens.
Coleman has had seven other guest appearances on television including,
Boston Public, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, Strong Medicine, 10-8:
Officers on Duty, Married to the Kellys, and Veronica Mars. Coleman was also in
the first ever Disney Channel Games in 2006, on the Blue Team. She won with
both teams. She showcased her ballroom skills in
"Dance With Me", while she partnered with National Youth Latin Champion Jared
Murillo. Drew Seeley was the soloist. She is the host of 3 Minute Game Show:
High School Musical Edition on Disney Channel. She recorded a song called
"Christmas Vacation" for the holiday album entitled A Disney Channel Holiday.
In 2007, she appeared in High School Musical 2 and voiced the Winx Club
character Layla/Aisha in the live-action film Secret of the Lost Kingdom. In
2008, she again repeated her role as Taylor McKessie in High School Musical
3. = Dancing with the Stars=
Coleman competed in the Fall 2006 third edition of ABC's Dancing with the Stars
reality dance competition. She was paired with professional partner Louis
van Amstel throughout the competition. van Amstel and the judges praised her
for "taking risks" during the competition. The pair appeared on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show before they were eliminated and performed the same dance
they performed in week 2's episode. She was eliminated from Dancing With The
Stars on November 1, 2006, finishing fourth in the competition. She was the
last female in the contest that year. Coleman was very gracious in defeat, and
appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show on the same night as the Results Show to
thank her fans for their votes and support. In the beginning of late
December 2007, Coleman partook in the Dancing with the Stars tour that took
her across America along with other former competitors until early February
2008. = Gimme Mo=
Gimme Mo' is an online platform to inspire and motivate today's youth,
created and executive produced by actress Coleman. GimmeMo's goal is to
create an environment where teens feel safe and open to talking about real
issues, bringing awareness to organizations that are serving teens,
and conducting celebrity interviews to spotlight Hollywood's commitment to
giving back. GimmeMo’ knows that young people are constantly on the web, so
they want to meet them where they are and provide them with inspiration,
resources and positive information. “Having traveled across America and to
24 counties as the first-ever UN Youth Champion, I’m inspired by the desire of
young people everywhere to make the world a better place. At GimmeMo’, our
goal is to build a global community of enlightened young people — those who
wish to be the change they wish to see in the world, to borrow a phrase from
Gandhi — and to raise awareness surrounding some of the biggest
challenges that Millennials face both in the U.S. and around the world.” —Monique
Coleman For more information, visit the website
= UN Youth Champion= At a ceremony at UN headquarters in New
York, Coleman was presented with a letter of recognition of her new role by
Assistant Secretary-General Jomo Kwame Sundaram of the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs.In presenting the letter, Mr. Sundaram said Coleman will
work “to raise awareness about the challenges young people face and will
highlight the positive contribution they make to their communities.” Coleman said
that receiving the designation of Youth Champion was “beyond an honour” and that
she would use her new position to promote global efforts to achieve the
anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals, which have a 2015 deadline, with
a special emphasis on the empowerment of youth. The International Year was
launched on August 12 and runs through August 11, 2011, and among its aims is
to advance the participation of young people on global, regional and national
issues that affect them. Philanthropy
Coleman worked with dosomething.org to produce a "Do Something U" video
tutorial. The video targets young activists who need a bit of guidance and
inspiration to help them carry out their ideas for their communities to fruition.
Coleman's video tutorial focused on teaching youth the best way to utilize
social media to spread word of ideas and actions.
Personal life Monique Coleman married Walter Jordan on
February 14, 2012 in a private ceremony in Koh Samui, Thailand.
Filmography Awards
19th Annual Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV MOVIE or
FEATURE FILM: Young Ensemble – "Ditchdigger's Daughter"
Best Family TV MOVIE/ PILOT/MINI-SERIES – The Ditchdigger's Daughters, Family
Channel Character and Morality in Entertainment
Awards 2006 – The Reading Room Teen Choice Awards 2006 Award for Choice
TV Show: Comedy/Musical – High School Musical
American Music Award 2007 for High School Musical 2
Teen Choice Awards 2009 Award for Choice Movie: Music/Dance – High School Musical
References External links
Monique Coleman at the Internet Movie Database
Monique Coleman at TV.com Monique Coleman's Official Site