Early life

Linnethia Monique Johnson was born December 13, 1967, in the New York City, New York, borough of Queens. She was sent to live with an aunt in Athens, Georgia when she was 4.

Career

Before Leakes met the producers of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, she had appeared on TV shows like The Parkers. In 2003, she had also landed a minor role as a stripper in the film The Fighting Temptations starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Beyoncé. None of her scenes are present in the final edit of the movie, therefore she is not credited for her work on the production.

In 2008, Leakes made her first appearance on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. After the first season, she co-wrote with Denene Milner the book Never Make The Same Mistake Twice. Leakes was a part of the cast for the first seven seasons. In June 2015 Leakes announced she would not return to the Real Housewives of Atlanta for the eighth season. However, Nene did feature in season 8 of the Real Housewives of Atlanta in a supporting role, reportedly earning her full salary from the previous 7 seasons.

Leakes has also transitioned into scripted television, playing the secretary Rocky Roades in the NBC comedy The New Normal. Ryan Murphy cast NeNe on his series Glee in the third season in a recurring role as synchronized swim coach and Olympic bronze-medalist Coach Roz Washington. In 2011, Leakes was a contestant on the eleventh installment of Donald Trump's NBC series Celebrity Apprentice. During the tenth episode of Apprentice, after arguments with fellow cast member Star Jones, Leakes walked off the show. Leakes failed to win any money for her selected charity, "My Sister's House".

Leakes has guest-hosted Anderson Live, The Talk, and appeared in Betty White's Off Their Rockers and The Price Is Right. On March 4, 2014 she was announced to be one of the celebrities who will compete in the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars. She paired with professional dancer, Tony Dovolani. Leakes and Dovolani were eliminated in Week 7 of competition (Latin Night) on April 28, 2014, finishing in 7th place.

As well as competing on Dancing with the Stars, Leakes played the Mistress of Sensuality in Las Vegas, for resident show Cirque du Soleil: Zumanity. Leakes made her Broadway debut on November 25, 2014, as Madame in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. She played the role until the production closed on January 3, 2015. In November of 2015, she was cast as playing Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago on Broadway for four weeks.

Other ventures

Production

In 2013, Leakes founded NeNe Leakes Entertainment, a television production company. The production company produced Leakes spin-off series I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding alongside True Entertainment, where Leakes was also credited as an executive producer. The spin-off series I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding, which documented the preparations for their second wedding, premiered on September 17, 2013.

Fashion line

In February 2014, Leakes announced that she would be launching a clothing line later in the year. On the 28th of July 2014, Leakes launched The Nene Leakes Collection for the Home Shopping Network (HSN). The collection sold out just days after the launch of the line. "We took meetings with a lot of different people. And HSN actually felt right," Leakes said. "When they walked into the room we totally clicked. And you need to really work with people who really understand and get you."

Personal life

Leakes resides in Duluth, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He also rents a house in the Hollywood Hills West, Los Angeles.

He and husband Gregg Leakes separated in 2010, and he filed for divorce on April 29, 2010. The divorce was finalized September 29, 2011, after season four of The Real Housewives had finished shooting. NeNe and Gregg Leakes reunited and announced that they were engaged in January 2013. Bravo filmed their wedding planning and ceremony for a spin-off entitled I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding. NeNe and Gregg remarried on June 22, 2013, at the InterContinental Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta.

Leakes has two sons, Bryson and Brentt. She has a granddaughter Bri'Asia Bryant (born June 2012).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	The Fighting Temptations	Stripper	Deleted scene

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	The Parkers	Minor Role	1 episode
2008-present	The Real Housewives of Atlanta	Herself	Main cast (Season 1-7); Guest (Season 8)
2011	The Celebrity Apprentice 4	Herself	Season 11; 10 episodes
2012-15	Glee	Roz Washington	Recurring role; 13 episodes
2012	The Amandas	Herself	1 episode
2012	The Game	Herself	1 episode
2012	Let's Stay Together	Herself	1 episode
2012-13	The New Normal	Rocky Rhoades	Series regular
2013	Betty White's Off Their Rockers	Herself	1 episode
2013	The Price Is Right	Herself	1 episode
2013	Miss USA	Herself	Main judge, 1 episode
2013	I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding	Herself	Main cast/Executive producer; 7 episodes
2013-present	Fashion Police	Co-Host	Guest Co-Host (2013-15); Season Six Special Co-Host (2016-present)
2014	The Millionaire Matchmaker	Herself	1 episode
2014	Dancing with the Stars	Herself	Season 18; 8 episodes (including the finale)
2015	The Prancing Elites Project	Herself	1 episode
2015	Real Husbands of Hollywood	Herself	1 episode
2015-16	New Year's Eve with Carson Daly	Co-Host	Special broadcast from Times Square
2016-present	To Tell the Truth	Main Judge	Series regular
2016	Lip Sync Battle	Herself/Contestant	1 episode
2016	Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry	Herself	Episode 1 (Season 1)

Guest co-hosting

NeNe has appeared as a guest co-host on a variety of talk-shows including Anderson Live (3 episodes), Kris (1 episode), The Chew (2 episodes), WWE Raw (1 episode), The View (5 episodes), The Talk (2 episodes as host, 1 as guest), Fashion Police (5 episodes before joining as special co-host in 2016), The Real (2 episodes), Live with Kelly and Michael (1 episode) and FABLife (1 episode).

Music videos

Year	Song	Artist	Role
2015	If I Don't Have You	Tamar Braxton	Madam NeNe

Video games

Year	Video Game	Character
2015-present	Kim Kardashian: Hollywood	NeNe Leakes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Loving Him Is Killing Me	Pinky Bell	Stage Play (Toured Major U.S. Cities)
2014	Zumanity	Mistress of Sensuality	Las Vegas Resident show
2014-15	Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella	Madame	The Broadway Theatre
2015	Chicago	Matron "Mama" Morton	The Ambassador Theatre

Charities

NeNe Leakes supports the following charitable causes: Homeless, Hunger.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]