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Lark Voorhies
Voorhies on July 25, 2008
Born	March 25, 1974 (1974-03-25) (age 36) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer, spokeswoman, model
Years active	1988–present
Spouse(s)	Miguel Coleman (1996-2004) (divorced)

Lark Voorhies (born March 25, 1974) is an American actress who rose to fame playing Lisa Turtle in Saved by the Bell, for which she was nominated for the Young Artist Award four times, winning in 1990 and 1993.

[edit] Early life

Voorhies was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in Pasadena, California. Voorhies is the second oldest of four siblings. Her mother chose to name her "Lark" after a character in the movie Cool Breeze.

Growing up, Voorhies took vocal lessons, dance lessons, joined the church choir, and attended gymnastic classes. She went to Pasadena Civic Ballet Company, where she studied different dance style routines for five years, including jazz, ballet, tap, and hip hop. Voorhies was an aspiring ballerina when she was younger.

[edit] Acting career

Voorhies made her acting debut at the age of two. She postponed her acting career until the age of 11. The reason behind this was because of her shyness. Her mother put Voorhies' acting career on hold until she was more comfortable in front of the cameras. Later, at the age of fourteen, Voorhies reappeared on an episode of Small Wonder in 1988. That same year, she landed the recurring role of Lisa Turtle in Good Morning, Miss Bliss and appeared in thirteen episodes from 1988 to 1989. She remained as the same character, as did Zack, Screech, and Mr. Belding, after Disney dropped the series and it was picked-up and re-tooled by NBC and renamed Saved by the Bell. The characters Miss Bliss, Mylo, Mikey, and Nicky were dropped. During its first season on NBC 1989-1990, the characters Kelly Kapowski, A.C. Slater, and Jessie Spano were added. The setting was also changed from John F. Kennedy Junior High in Indianapolis to Bayside High School in Los Angeles.

Voorhies has since appeared in several television sitcoms and soap operas. She played the role of single mom Wendy Reardon in Days of Our Lives, and in The Bold and the Beautiful Voorhies played the role of intern fashion-designer, Jasmine Malone. She was released from her contract when her role required her to act in sex scenes, which the actress refused to do citing her religious beliefs. She also attends the District Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses every year.

In 1995, Voorhies guest-starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Life Support". During the same year, Voorhies guest-starred in the season 6 episode of Family Matters, entitled "Home Sweet Home," as Eddie's upstairs dream girl. She has continued to act in various roles since then, such as In the House, in which she played the girlfriend-turned-wife of Alfonso Ribeiro’s character, Dr. Max Stanton. Previously, she played Ribeiro's love interest twice on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Besides sitcoms, Voorhies also appeared in movies and direct-to-video films.

Voorhies has not restricted her acting to television sitcoms and movies alone. She has appeared in a number of music videos, including Kenny Lattimore's "Never Too Busy," Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee," Montell Jordan's "Somethin' for the Honeyz," and Dru Hill's "These Are the Times." Voorhies, as a model, endorsed Head and Shoulders shampoo and "Oxy10."

In 2001 Voorhies played a major role in the film "How High" as Lauren, a Harvard student.

Her latest film project is a movie adaptation of the book The Black Man's Guide to Understanding Black Women, and she is also involved in a movie entitled The Next Hit, which was released in August, 2008.^[1]

She has been rumoured to play Whitney Houston in the Grammy Winning Singer's upcoming biopic.^[2]

[edit] Music

In 1994 Voorhies was in a group originally called the X-Girls (now known as Geneva) with Stacee and Yashi Brown (the daughters of singer and oldest Jackson family member Rebbie Jackson). She is the niece of Jermaine Jackson through extended family.

[edit] Third Degree

Voorhies was formerly in an alternative band named Third Degree. She was the founder and lead singer of the group. Due to the band splitting, Voorhies decided to further her music career as a soloist.

[edit] Solo artist

Voorhies is currently preparing to release her new single, entitled "Backyard" under her own management/production company by January 2010. The album title is currently unknown.

[edit] Asher Roth

Voorhies is mentioned in Asher Roth's single "Lark on My Go-Kart".

[edit] Boyz II Men

Voorhies played Wanya's girlfriend in the music video "On Bended Knee".

[edit] Ludacris

Voorhies is mentioned in Ludacris' song "Coming 2 America" off his "Word of Mouf" album.

[edit] Business

Voorhies owns Lark Voorhies Productions and Voorhies Management, Inc, which she co-founded with her brother and some of her business partners.

[edit] Legal dispute

On May 30, 2006, Voorhies filed a lawsuit against The National Enquirer for libel over an article that included claims she had a drug problem.^[3]

[edit] Personal life

Voorhies has had several romances with several Hollywood actors and co-stars, including Saved by the Bell co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar, whom she dated for three years. Voorhies had a brief romance with and was engaged to American comedy actor Martin Lawrence in 1993. On March 9, 1996, she married actor/producer Miguel Coleman. The marriage lasted for eight years, from 1996 to 2004, at which point the couple divorced.^[4]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Awards and nominations

Young Artist Award

• 1989: Nominated, "Best Young Actress in a Cable Family Series" - Good Morning, Miss Bliss
• 1990: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast" - Saved by the Bell
• 1990: Won, "Best Young Actress Starring in an Off-Primetime Series" - Saved by the Bell
• 1991: Nominated, "Best Young Actress Starring in an Off-Primetime Series" - Saved by the Bell
• 1992: Nominated, "Best Young Actress Starring in an Off-Primetime Series" - Saved by the Bell
• 1993: Won, "Best Young Actress Starring in an Off-Primetime Series" - Saved by the Bell

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lark Voorhies at the Internet Movie Database
• Lark Voorhies at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)