Brooke Ashley Lyons (born November 8, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Amy in the 2008 film ''

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins ''Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins'' is a 2008 American comedy film written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The film also features an ensemble cast featuring: Martin Lawrence, Nicole Ari Parker, Margaret Avery, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mike Epps, Mo'Niqu ...

'' and as Peach Landis in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

sitcom ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cumm ...

''.

Early life and education

Lyons was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She is the daughter of

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

James R. Lyons and dancer Penny A. Lyons (née Sousa). She is of Italian, Irish and Portuguese descent and grew up in Fairfield and

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, and several other towns in the state. She spent a lot of her youth both dancing and riding horses, giving up the latter to focus on the former. As a child she suffered from

scoliosis Scoliosis is a condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve. The curve is usually "S"- or "C"-shaped over three dimensions. In some, the degree of curve is stable, while in others, it increases over time. Mild scoliosis does not t ...

, which prevented her from a pursuing a career as a ballet dancer. Before being diagnosed, she studied dance at the

Joffrey Ballet School The Joffrey Ballet is one of the premier dance companies and training institutions in the world today. Located in Chicago, Illinois, the Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at Lyric O ...

, the New England Ballet School in Connecticut, the

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. I ...

and traveled to France. She wore a

back brace A back brace is a device designed to limit the motion of the spine in cases of bone fracture or in post-operative spinal fusiona, as well as a preventative measure against some progressive conditions or to correct patient posture. Common back b ...

throughout her time in the ninth grade. She ultimately had surgery to correct her spine. While she was freshman at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, she founded the Connecticut Scoliosis Association and wrote about her experiences with the disease in the book titled ''Scoliosis: Ascending the Curve''. The book was published before she began classes at Yale in 1999. While at Yale she majored in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and was a member of the "Arts and Letters"

Manuscript Society Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each academic year 16 rising seniors are inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion. Manuscript is reputedly ...

Career

Lyons then became interested in acting, receiving her first speaking role in the

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

play ''

Rumors A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; see spelling differences; derived from Latin:rumorem - noise), is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in p ...

''. She also worked in the productions ''

The Maids ''The Maids'' (french: Les Bonnes, links=no) is a 1947 play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed. The pla ...

'' and ''

Heartbreak House ''Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes'' is a play written by George Bernard Shaw, first published in 1919 and first played at the Garrick Theatre in November 1920. According to A. C. Ward, the work argues that "cul ...

''. She received additional acting training at

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Beginning in 2004, Lyons appeared in the television series ''

American Dreams ''American Dreams'' is an American drama television series that ran on NBC for three seasons & 61 episodes, from September 29, 2002, to March 30, 2005. The show tells the story of the Pryor family of Philadelphia during the mid-1960s, with many ...

'', ''

That's So Raven ''That's So Raven'' is an American television teen sitcom that was created by Michael Poryes and Susan Sherman, and aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between January 2003 and November 2007. The series centers on Raven Baxter (Raven-Sym ...

'', '' The Starter Wife'', and ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...

'', and has had recurring roles in ''

'', '' The Affair'', and ''

Jane by Design ''Jane by Design'' is an American comedy-drama television series on ABC Family. The series follows the life of Jane Quimby ( Erica Dasher), a teenager who is mistaken for an adult, as she finally gets her fashion dream job working with a world-fa ...

''. In film, her most notable acting role to date was as Amy in the 2008 film ''

''. She also appeared in the films ''The Trap'' (2005), ''

Protecting the King ''Protecting the King'' is a 2007 American drama film starring Peter Dobson as Elvis Presley. Rereleased June 2022, the film may be rented for streaming at the official webpage of the film. It tells the story of David Stanley ( Matt Barr), the ste ...

'' (2007), and ''

Dark Reel ''Dark Reel'' is a 2008 horror/comedy film starring Tiffany Shepis, Edward Furlong, Mercedes McNab, Alexandra Holden, Tony Todd and Lance Henriksen Lance Henriksen (born May 5, 1940) is an American actor. He is known for his works in various ...

'' (2008).

Personal life

In 2014, Lyons married film producer Max Osswald. She and Osswald have a son, born in August 2017. Lyons co-starred in two films that Osswald produced, the short film ''To Sonnets'' and the television film ''

A Deadly Adoption ''A Deadly Adoption'' is a 2015 American made-for-television satirical thriller-drama film directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg (in her feature directories debut) and written by Andrew Steele. It meant to be a straight-faced lampoon of Lifetime Net ...

''.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Brooke 1980 births 21st-century American actresses Actors from Fairfield, Connecticut Actresses from New Haven, Connecticut Actresses from Washington, D.C. American film actresses American television actresses American people of Portuguese descent American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent Living people Yale University alumni Health activists