Karyn Elaine Bryant (born December 23, 1968) is an American actress, writer, and television personality.

Early life

Bryant was born and raised in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. While in Massachusetts, she completed secondary school at

Lawrence Academy at Groton Lawrence Academy at Groton is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, in the United States. Founded in 1792 by a group of fifty residents of Groton and Pepperell, Massachusetts ...

, and received a

Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

s from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and sociology. She is of black, white, and Jamaican descent.

Career

Bryant's love of music led to her first television job in 1990, as an

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

VJ. She later hosted a live, daily music program on FX called ''Sound fX'' alongside Matt Ostrom and

Orlando Jones Orlando Jones (born April 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for being one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'', for his role as the 7 Up spokesman from 1999 to 2002, and for his role a ...

Jeff Probst Jeff Probst (; born November 4, 1961) is an American reality show host and executive producer. He is best known as the Emmy Award-winning host of the U.S. version of the reality television show '' Survivor'' since 2000. He was also the host of ' ...

replaced Jones toward the end of the show's run. Bryant was chosen by

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

to host a series of entertainment vignettes called ''Rough Cut''. The success of the vignettes prompted TNT to turn ''Rough Cut'' into a weekly television series hosted and written by Bryant. This marked the beginning of Bryant's professional relationship with

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

. TBS soon launched the wraparound series '' Movies, For Guys Who Like Movies'', allowing Bryant to drive a U.S. Naval LCAC

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

, train with Marine snipers and engage in other activities.

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

later picked Bryant to host his new daily VH1 game show, ''Name That Video'' in 2001; Bryant filmed 50 episodes. After a brief stint hosting

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

's '' Talk Back Live'', Bryant was chosen to co-anchor

's revamped ''

Showbiz Tonight ''Showbiz Tonight'' is a defunct American entertainment news program that aired from February 20, 2005, until February 6, 2014, on HLN. ''Showbiz Tonight'' was hosted by A. J. Hammer at CNN New York at the time of its cancellation. The show re ...

'' in 2004. Bryant, a Patriots and

Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

fan, joined

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

for their first live

New Years New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

Eve show as the countdown to 2006 began. That year, Bryant joined the

Showtime Championship Boxing ''Showtime Championship Boxing'' is a television boxing program airing on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it is broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. ''Showtime Championship Boxing'', which is very similar to ''HBO World Champi ...

announcer team with Steve Albert,

Al Bernstein Al Bernstein (born September 15, 1950) is an American sportscaster, writer, stage performer, recording artist, and speaker. Journalism career In the 1970s, Bernstein was a newspaperman, working at Lerner Newspapers in Chicago. He eventually be ...

and Jim Gray. In May 2008, Bryant was invited by

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 Entertainm ...

to join their

Elite Xtreme Combat Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decembe ...

announcer team for their new primetime

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

programming, debuting

for the first time on primetime network television May 31, 2008. Bryant also co-owns MMAheat.com which covers most

sporting events. MMA H.E.A.T. (the show) is a half-hour sports and entertainment podcast that Bryant writes and anchors ("H.E.A.T." stands for "Heart. Endurance. Aggression. Technique."). She currently co-hosts most of the UFC Pre and Post shows on

TV appearances

Hosting

*''Awake on the Wild Side'' –

*''Weekend Blastoff'' –

*''Buzzcut'' –

*''

Like We Care ''Like We Care'' is an MTV news program in the early 1990s, debuting in Spring 1992, that was geared towards high school students. Through research using focus groups MTV found that a narrator reading the news turned the youngsters off, so the pr ...

'' –

*''Sound FX'' – FX *''Rough Cut'' –

*'' Movies, For Guys Who Like Movies'' – TBS *''Name That Video'' – VH1 *''

Junkyard Wars ''Scrapheap Challenge'' is a British television show where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a Wrecking yard, scrapyard. The series features teams of four or five member ...

'' –

TLC (TV channel) TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the own ...

*'' For Love or Money – Reunion Special'' –

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

*''

'' (2005) –

*''

's New Year's Eve Special, Live From

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

'' (2005) –

*''

'' (2006–2009) –

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

*''

'' (2008) –

*''

Cindy Crawford Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model, actress and television personality. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers, runways, as well as fash ...

Meaningful Beauty'' skin care – infomercial *''MMA H.E.A.T.'' (2009–present) * UFC Now

Recurring roles

*''

Malcolm and Eddie ''Malcolm & Eddie'' is an American sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996, on UPN, and ran for four seasons, airing its final episode on May 22, 2000. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. The program wa ...

'' *''

Sliders Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial website (MMA H.E.A.T.)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Karyn American game show hosts American infotainers American television actresses American television journalists American television talk show hosts Brown University alumni Living people Actresses from Boston VJs (media personalities) Mixed martial arts broadcasters 1968 births American people of Jamaican descent American women non-fiction writers American women television journalists Fox Sports 1 people 21st-century American women