Sometimes careers suffer setbacks that weren’t planned for and have to be taken care of. Michael Michele knows about this issue since she had to go through it on a very personal level and was forced to reconnoiter for a bit in order to really get back to what she wanted to be doing. But thankfully she’s the strong type of woman, much as she plays in many roles, that can pick herself back up and keep moving forward. This is a woman that’s not going to be denied just because something she didn’t care for happened and threatened to derail her acting career. She took it upon herself to get back into the swing of things and make something worthy of a legacy no matter how hard it was. To this day she’s still acting and she’s still showing the kind of spirit that kept her in the business in the first place.
Here are a few things you might not have known about her.
10. She filed a sexual harassment suit against Eddie Murphy.
The film Harlem Nights was supposed to be her big break but she found out quickly that she couldn’t work with Eddie Murphy it seems since she went on to not only quit the film but file a sexual harassment suit against him. The matter was settled out of court and her acting career almost took a dive because of it.
9. She was in New Jack City.
She played the girlfriend of Nino and unlike most of the others in his crew she had a conscience that didn’t allow her to stick around too long after the gang started selling crack to the neighborhood and went on to start a war with the other sellers in the city. Needless to say she was tossed to the curb.
8. She worked at the Gap for a while.
The bills have got to be paid even if you’re trying to make something out of your life, and the Gap is actually one of the more respected retail positions. It was back then and it still is now since it’s considered to be more of a high-end retail store that people like.
7. She likes portraying strong women.
Empowering women in film has been an important factor for a long time and there have been plenty of women that have done it and done it well. Michael has managed to show people that women can be every bit as tough as men in some regards.
6. She’s named after her mother’s best friend.
You know you’ve earned a person’s respect when you find out that they named one of their kids after you. This is something special since a lot of people like to name their kids after a family member or something or someone that means something to them.
5. She was supposed to be in Coming to America.
Michael was supposed to play Eriq La Salle’s girlfriend but this would have put her in direct contact with Eddie Murphy as well. Whether the feelings between them had been solved or not it seems like it would have been a bad idea to put them together again.
4. She was in Ali.
As great as he was, Muhammed Ali wasn’t exactly the best human being in the world when it came to being married. His name isn’t meant to be tarnished but in terms of his fidelity it was alluded to that it wasn’t always something that could be counted on since he was a big lover of women. That being said she played one of the women that caught his eye and eventually became another of his wives.
3. Her career started in 1986.
Anyone that started before the turn of the century has seen a side of the business that those walking in after 2000 likely haven’t seen. Things were in fact kind of different back then and the whole idea of equality was still important but the landscape of show business has certainly changed since then in many, many ways.
2. She’s been a fashion designer as well.
I’ll keep saying it but having another profession to go to outside of acting is a smart move. There’s no telling when a person will want to step away from the spotlight, if ever, but should such a thing happen then it’s important to have something else to fall back on if needed.
1. She was on ER.
At one point and time this was THE medical program that everyone wanted to watch. It featured a number of actors that went on to bigger and better things and many that didn’t do much afterwards. In her case however it was another chance at the spotlight and one she did quite well at for a while.
It takes a strong woman to bounce back from something that could ruin her career, and yet she did it in stride.New Jack City
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