GOLDEN BROOKS
as MAYA WILKES

Golden Brooks stars as Maya Wilkes, a sharp-tongued but good-hearted working mom who is trying to get her life back on track after her recent divorce, in The CW's hit comedy “Girlfriends.”

Born in San Francisco, Brooks was raised both there and in Los Angeles. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology with an emphasis on media representation of minorities from the University of California Berkeley, as well as a master's degree from Sarah Lawrence College. Brooks has used her extensive training from Berkeley, where she also minored in theater, to win roles in numerous feature films, including her most recent “Something New,” opposite Simon Baker; “Beauty Shop,” starring Queen Latifah, where she played the hilarious outspoken stylist; “Time Code,” directed by Mike Figgis and starring Holly Hunter, Salma Hayek and Jeanne Tripplehorn; “Hell's Kitchen”; and “The Imposter,” opposite Gary Sinise and Vincent D'Onofrio.

Brooks has an impressive list of television credits, including a role in the series “Linc’s,” and guest starring roles in “The Parkers,” “Haunted,” “The Jaime Foxx Show,” “Adventures of Pete and Pete” and “Promised Land.”

Brooks is also active on stage alongside Danny Glover with the Robey Theater Company, a nonprofit company dedicated to developing plays about the black experience, as well as interpreting established works. Her other theater credits include University of California Berkley productions of Ntozake Shanges’s “For Colored Girls,” Chekhov’s “The Brute” and Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” among others.

In 2003, Brooks received the Multi-Cultural Prism Award for Best Actress in a Comedy. In 2002, she was nominated for an NAACP Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also made history with her cast mates when they co-hosted the “2004 NAACP Image Awards,” which marked the first year any woman hosted the program.

A dedicated volunteer, Brooks has worked with inner city youths to help improve their performances in school through English, poetry and empowerment training, as well as dedicating her time to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Brooks is also a classically trained dancer, both studying and teaching ballet, jazz and modern dance.

Brooks lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Saeku.