Who is Nicole Ari Parker? All about the actress set to play Bernadette in Lanterns
Nicole Ari Parker, 54, known for Soul Food and Almost Christmas, has just been confirmed to have a role in HBO's upcoming new DC series Lanterns. She will play the role of Bernadette, the mother of John Stewart, who is a member of the Green Lantern Corps.
As the name suggests, the show will feature not one, but two heroes, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, sharing the title of Green Lantern. While no official date has been set yet, the show is expected to be released around summer 2025.
According to Variety, an official description of Nicole Ari Parker's character, Bernadette, reads:
“Formidable and tenacious, Bernadette refuses to give up, no matter how insurmountable the odds. At her core, she’s a fiercely protective mother who has worked her entire life to ensure that she and her family will not be passed over.”
Who is Nicole Ari Parker?
Nicole Ari Parker is an American actress, hailing from Maryland. She began acting in local theater productions from the time she was in high school and earned her acting degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1993. She is also a member of The Washington Ballet Company.
Nicole Ari Parker has worked with several theater groups including Naked Angels and Circle Rep Laboratory. One of the first roles of her career on the big screen was her bold portrayal of Evie in The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995).
She has since starred in several notable films as well as television series and received several awards and nominations. Some of her most notable films include The End of Violence (1997), Spark (1998), The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998), which won at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and 200 Cigarettes (1999).
She was nominated for the Best Actress Black Reel Award for Network/Cable for her role in Dancing in September (2000). She also received nominations for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture in 2000 and 2002, for her roles in Remember the Titans and Brown Sugar, respectively.
The 54-year-old actress has also acted in several successful television shows. Her breakthrough role came in the Showtime series Soul Food (2000-2004), for which she received five nominations for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series.
Other notable TV shows in her repertoire include Empire (2017-2020) and Chicago PD (2020-2021). She is currently portraying the role of Lisa Todd Wexley in the HBOMax series And Just Like That (2021 - present), a sequel to the hit television series Sex and the City (1998-2004).
Nicole Ari Parker is married to Boris Kodjoe (known for Station 19), her co-star in Soul Food. The couple share two children - daughter Sophie, 20, and son Nicolas, 19.
Lanterns - what we know so far
As mentioned earlier, Lanterns will follow two intergalactic heroes - John Stewart and Hal Jordan - as they solve mysteries on Earth that have higher stakes and an even larger impact on the universe. The series will reportedly follow the unique format of a detective/ cop show, with intergalactic consequences.
The show stars Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, along with Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Ulrich Thomsen, and Chris Coy, besides Nicole Ari Parker.
The show will be a part of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe (DCU). The scriptwriters are Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, and Tom King, with Chris Mundy also being the showrunner. Production on the show has already started and it is expected to release around summer 2025.
Stay tuned to this space for more updates as we get them.
