When you think about Kenya Moore’s history, many things might come to mind. First and foremost, the reality star’s stint on Real Housewives of Atlanta immediately comes to mind. Moore joined the Bravo reality television series in its fifth season and has since remained on the show. But the reality star’s filmography is far more extensive than many fans are aware of. Prior to becoming known for twirling and being “gone with the wind fabulous,” Kenya Moore appeared in quite a few big-budget sitcoms and movies.
Kenya Moore began her career in the entertainment industry as one of the “it girls” of the 90s at a very young age. The Detroit, Michigan-native first started to model before taking over television screens. Her first role was on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1994.
Season 4 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air saw Will Smith’s character more entrenched in the community and many more changes to the series. Aunt Viv definitely looked noticeably different. Will’s childhood friend and seeming love interest, Jackie, played by Tyra Banks, was also introduced within the season. Then, in episode 23, fans witnessed another beautiful woman come across their screens that was introduced as “Dana.”
The episode entitled “Mother’s Day” saw Kenya Moore playing the role of Will Smith’s girlfriend. Moore was privileged to engage in an intimate onscreen kissing scene with the show’s star as he attempted to stop her from hearing an awkward message on his phone. But then they are once again interrupted by his best friend, Jazz, and his girlfriend. Finally, after all of the constant interruptions, she exits Will’s house.
Following her walk-on role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Kenya Moore got the opportunity to star alongside some other heavy hitters. This time, Moore was cast in the movie Waiting To Exhale in 1995, starring Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon. As the film opens, Whitney Houston’s character “Savannah” is obstructed from dancing with her date on New Year’s Eve due to “Denise” (played by Kenya Moore) stepping in and “rudely” interrupting.
Kenya Moore wasn’t done with sitcoms. The following year, she was seen in two popular television shows: Martin and Homeboys in Outer Space. On Martin, Kenya Moore appeared in season 4 as Lena Bozack – the hot wife of a producer with whom Martin was affiliated. The two become flirty, causing Martin’s girlfriend, Gina, to become extremely jealous. On the short-lived comedy Homeboys in Outer Space, Moore appeared as “Nefertiti” in an episode.
On another short-lived UPN sitcom Sparks, the RHOA star appeared as “Ms. Collins” for one episode. That same year in 1997, Kenya Moore’s television credits began to ramp up even more. Smart Guy fans saw her appear in season one, episode 3, as “Vivian Kennedy,” a representative of the company Technocraft Computers. Vivian Kennedy seems to try and convince young TJ to join the company amid others attempting to persuade him.
Next up for Kenya Moore was Living Single. The budding actress was included in season 4 for one episode as the character “Lisa DeLongPre.” Moore’s character was a gorgeous supermodel who had appeared on numerous high-profile magazine covers and was also Kyle’s date.
Kenya Moore also appeared in one episode before Damon Wayan’s short-lived sitcom Damon went off-air on FOX. But Moore got back in front of major audiences once again when she acted on The Steve Harvey Show for an episode. In 1998, Kenya Moore appeared as “Miss Gerard,” a teacher who unknowingly cracked a similar joke as Steve usually would to Principal Grier.
That same year, she was cast in a role on The Parent ‘Hood, which starred Robert Townsend, Suzanne Douglas, and Faizon Love. Kenya Moore played the role of Celeste, an old friend of the family’s who grew up and had a “glow up.” This time, however, things were different for Moore. Instead of making one appearance on the series, she was invited back to portray Celeste for another episode.
In keeping the trend of making stunning appearances on popular Black sitcoms, 1999 saw Kenya Moore appearing on The Jamie Foxx Show. Moore was cast as “Heidi,” a contestant on the show “Change of Heart,” also the episode’s title.
But things changed for Kenya Moore thanks to the sitcom In the House. In the show’s final season, she was given a recurring role portraying Valerie Bridgeforth.
Kenya Moore’s filmography continued to expand into other shows such as The Parkers, Meet the Browns, and Girlfriends, where she played “Kara” the love interest of William for two episodes. Besides Waiting to Exhale, she also appeared in other films such as Senseless alongside Marlon Wayans and Deliver Us From Eva, starring Gabrielle Union.
