Vanessa Baden
Vanessa Baden is a talented twenty-eight year-old actress who starred on the
Emmy nominated “Gullah Gullah Island” for all four seasons as the
self-titled role of ‘Vanessa’. “Gullah Gullah Island”, a favorite show of
both parents and preschool-age children, won numerous Parents Choice
Awards. In addition, the series received 4 NAACP Image Award nominations, a
1996 NAACP Image Award and a 1996 Cable ACE Award nomination. Vanessa has
also starred in all of the “Gullah Gullah Island” home videos.
She played the starring role of ‘Kyra Rockmore’, Kenan’s little sister, on
the Cable Ace Award winning “Kenan and Kel” for all four seasons. The 1998
Kid’s Choice Award for “Best Show”, “Kenan and Kel”, also received a 1999
NAACP Award nomination.
She first began on Nickelodeon by guest starring in several episodes of “My
Brother and Me”. She has also appeared in Nickelodeon’s “Figure It Out” as a
guest panelist. Vanessa has made Nickelodeon history by being the first
actor to simultaneously tape as a starring role on two different shows,
“Gullah Gullah Island” and “Kenan and Kel”.
In addition, Vanessa was in the supporting cast of John Singleton’s 1997
film, “Rosewood”, as ‘Lee Ruth Bradley’. The project enabled her to work
with such actors as Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Michael Rooker and veteran
actors Jon Voight and the late Esther Rolle. This was Vanessa’s first
feature film.
Vanessa first began her career at the tender age of four when she enrolled
in acting and modeling school. Her original objective was to model and
after several print jobs her magnetic personality sparked her modeling agent
to introduce her to a talent agent.
She has lent her support to The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and has
participated in Rollins College Diversity Celebration and appearances at
Barnes and Noble for Black History month. Vanessa was a guest celebrity at
the Orlando Magic’s Black Tie and Tennies Gala. She has also taken part in
Nickelodeon’s Big Help, Brevard’s Back to School Expose, as well as several
other organizations. In April 2000, Vanessa participated in The Magic
Foundation benefit Secure the Future-“African Children’s Design Jacket
Project” and the “A Salute to African American Designers”. On August 27,
2000, Vanessa was the co-host for The First Annual Night at the Apollo at
Dr. P. In April 2001, Vanessa made her stage debut as ‘Mammy Yokum’ in
“Li’l Abner.” She stared in the stage production of “Anton in Show
Business” as ‘Lisabette Cartright.’
In 2003 Vanessa became a proud Seminole and entered Florida State
University, while still a senior at Satellite High. In 2004, she returned
to Satellite Beach to walk with her class as she graduated with honor from
Satellite High School. Upon returning to FSU, Vanessa took a hiatus from
acting and shifted gear into the realm of Civil Rights. At FSU Vanessa
became a prominent Seminole holding a position in organizations such as, the
Black Student Union and Garnett & Gold Key Leadership Honorary as well as
numerous position in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, (NAACP). She served as the Political Action Chair for the
Florida NAACP. Vanessa’s most treasured achievement to date is being
co-founder of the Student Coalition for Justice, Inc, (SCJ) an organization
comprised of FSU, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College.
SCJ marks the revival of the student movement and lead the largest student
protest in Florida history to date. Vanessa is now regularly featured on
the nationally syndicated radio talk show, “Keeping it real with Reverend Al
Sharpton”. Upon Graduation, Vanessa staffed on the Obama for America
Campaign in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as well as serving as State Director
for the Center for Health Environment and Justice. In that time she also began work on her Masters of Divinity through Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Most currently she served as an organizer for Parks and Crump and the Dream Defenders in the campaign to bring justice for Trayvon Martin.
Vanessa’s return to Acting came in 2010 when she signed with the prestigious
Untitled Entertainment in Los Angeles, CA. In her return to California, Vanessa partnered with child hood friend and Sony Screen Gems Alum James Bland to form Hometeam Entertainment, LLC. They have produced the short film “Cocoa Love”, winner of the Urban Media Makers Film Festival Best Comedy award, and featured short on the BET Series Lens
on Talent. They are currently in production for the made for web sitcom “FAIL” in
association with Christopher “Play” Martin of Kid n Play. FAIL can be seen bi weekly on AllHipHop.com.
