Yvette Nicole Brown

**Yvette Nicole Brown** (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress, voice actress, and host. Brown has appeared in numerous commercials, television shows, and films throughout her career. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC comedy series *Community*. She had a recurring role on the Nickelodeon sitcom *Drake & Josh* as Helen Dubois, and voiced the character Cookie on the American-Canadian animated series *Pound Puppies*. Brown also starred as Dani in the 2015 version of *The Odd Couple* on CBS and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom *The Mayor*. In 2018, she assumed the role of Nora, AA sponsor to Christy, the central character on *Mom*.

Brown has also had guest roles in television shows such as *That '70s Show*, *The Office*, *Boston Legal*, *Chuck*, and *The Soul Man*. In addition to television, she has had supporting roles in films such as *(500) Days of Summer*, *Tropic Thunder*, *Repo Men*, and *Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters*. She also voiced "Harper" from the video game *Minecraft: Story Mode* in addition to Cookie on *Pound Puppies*, Luna on *Elena of Avalor* and Principal Waller on *DC Superhero Girls* She has hosted Syfy cosplay series *Cosplay Melee* and has been a frequent couch guest on *Talking Dead*. She has also served as a guest co-host on talk shows including *The View*, *The Talk*, *The Real* and *The Jeff Probst Show*.

## Early life and education

Brown was born in East Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Warrensville Heights High School in 1989. Brown studied communication studies at the University of Akron and graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Communication in 1994.[1][2] She became a sister of the Delta Pi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha as an undergrad at the university.

After graduating, Brown took acting classes in Hollywood, Los Angeles.[3]

## Career

Brown appeared as "Yvette" in the music video "1-4-All-4-1" by the East Coast Family, a Michael Bivins project, for Biv10 Records.[4] Brown said of the experience, "It was a great run, but I guess music was just never meant to be for me."[5]

Brown first appeared on commercials before entering television shows and films a few years later.[6] She has since played roles on television shows such as *The War at Home*, *Malcolm in the Middle*, *That's So Raven*, and the US version of *The Office*. She also had a recurring role as movie theater manager Helen Dubois in the Nickelodeon sitcom *Drake & Josh*. Brown reprised the role in the season 2 episode of *Victorious* titled "Helen Back Again".[3] She also provided the voice of Cookie on The Hub's *Pound Puppies*.

In 2009, Brown began starring as Shirley Bennett on the comedy series *Community*. On September 30, 2014, Brown announced that she would be leaving the show after five seasons in order to take care of her ailing father. In her announcement she said, "My dad needs daily care and he needs me. The idea of being away 16 hours a day for five months, I couldn't do it. It was a difficult decision for me to make, but I had to choose my dad."[7]

She has appeared in television commercials for Hamburger Helper, Big Lots, Pine-Sol, Comcast, Aquapod, Shout, Fiber One, Yoplait Yogurt, DiGiorno Pizza, Dairy Queen, and Time Warner.[*citation needed*] She has appeared on episodes of *The Thrilling Adventure Hour* as "The Troubleshooter" in the *Sparks Nevada, Marshall on Mars* series.

In 2012, Brown appeared as a celebrity contestant on GSN's *The Pyramid* with her *Community* co-star Danny Pudi.

In 2014, it was reported that Brown was set to recur on the USA Network series *Benched*.[8] Shortly after her exit of *Community*, Brown's role of Dani on the CBS sitcom *The Odd Couple* was upgraded to series regular.[9] She has also been a regular guest on AMC's *Talking Dead*. She currently hosts Syfy cosplay series *Cosplay Melee*.

In July 2018, Brown temporarily replaced Chris Hardwick as the host of *Talking Dead* and served as moderator for *The Walking Dead* and *Fear the Walking Dead* panels at the San Diego Comic-Con during Hardwick's suspension.[10]

In 2019, Brown wrote the independent feature *Always A Bridesmaid*, a romantic comedy. Set for a fall release, the film stars Jordan Calloway and Javicia Leslie, and features Marcel Spears, Brandon Micheal Hall, Affion Crockett, Richard Lawson (actor), and Telma Hopkins among the supporting cast