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Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970), also known as Nikki Kodjoe, is an American actress and a former model. She is perhaps best known for her role as attorney Teri Joseph on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food and her role as Becky Barnett in Boogie Nights. Parker was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the only child of her divorced parents, health care professional Susan Parker and dentist Donald Parker. Parker's ethnic background is African American and Cherokee. At the age of 17, she won best actress in the state of Maryland's high school competition and then... MORE

Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970), also known as Nikki Kodjoe, is an American actress and a former model. She is perhaps best known for her role as attorney Teri Joseph on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food and her role as Becky Barnett in Boogie Nights. Parker was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the only child of her divorced parents, health care professional Susan Parker and dentist Donald Parker. Parker's ethnic background is African American and Cherokee. At the age of 17, she won best actress in the state of Maryland's high school competition and then moved to the Washington Ballet Company before applying to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She graduated with an acting degree in 1993. Early in her career she appeared in several critically acclaimed independent films including The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, Boogie Nights, 200 Cigarettes, and the 1999 Sundance Film Festival winner The Adventures of Sebastian Cole. She starred with her husband, model and actor Boris Kodjoe, in UPN's situation comedy Second Time Around. After a string of odd jobs (including scooping ice cream), bit-roles and low wage work in the LESS