Vanessa Jennifer Baden-Kelly (; born September 8, 1985) is an American actress, writer, director, and producer. She is best known as a child actress in the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

television series ''

Gullah Gullah Island ''Gullah Gullah Island'' is an American musical children's television series that was produced by and aired on the Nick Jr. programming block on the Nickelodeon network from October 24, 1994, to April 7, 1998. The show was hosted by Ron Daise - n ...

'' (1994–1998) and ''

Kenan & Kel ''Kenan & Kel'' is an American Buddy film, buddy comedy sitcom created by Kim Bass. The show originally aired on the Nickelodeon network for four seasons, from July 15, 1996, to July 15, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, the series follows mischiev ...

'' (1996–2000). In 2017, she starred, co-wrote and co-produced the

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...

'', executive produced by

Issa Rae Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, producer, and comedian. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series ''Awkward Black Girl''. Since 2011, Rae h ...

. In 2019, she won a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for her performance in ''Giants''.

Early life

Baden was born in Manhattan Beach, California, and raised in

Satellite Beach, Florida Satellite Beach is a coastal city in Brevard County, Florida, U.S. The population was 11,346 at the 2020 United States Census, and it is located with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Indian River to the west. Satellite Beach is part of t ...

, where she got her start as a model in print ads. In 2004, she won the Florida District Miss Black and Gold Pageant, representing the Iota Delta chapter of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity at a regional competition in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. She graduated from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

in December 2007 with a degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

Career

Baden began her career as a child actress on television; her first major role was as Vanessa in the Nick Jr. television series ''

.'' Following this, she portrayed Kyra Rockmore for more than 60 episodes of the teen sitcom ''

'', which also aired on Nickelodeon. In 1997, she played a supporting role in the film ''

Rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in ...

'' and served as a panelist on the children's game show ''

Figure It Out ''Figure It Out'' is an American children's panel game show that aired on Nickelodeon. The original series, hosted by Summer Sanders, ran for four seasons from July 7, 1997, to December 12, 1999. The show was revived in 2012, with Jeff Sutphen ...

''. This was followed by a year-long hiatus from acting. In 2011, Baden returned to the screen as Hope in the YouTube comedy series ''Fail'', opposite

King Bach Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), also known as King Bach is a Canadian-American Internet personality and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, where he had 16.2 million followers, making him the most fol ...

. In 2012, she starred as Erin Mult in the television film ''Chris & Todd''. In 2014, she played opposite

Jenifer Lewis Jenifer Jeanette Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films ''Beaches'' (1988) and ''Sister Act'' (1992). Le ...

in the comedy feature film ''

Secrets of the Magic City ''Secrets of the Magic City'' is an American comedy drama film written and directed by R. Malcolm Jones. The film stars Jenifer Lewis, Jamie Hector, Keith David, and Erika Alexander. Many scenes from the motion picture had been filmed in earlier ...

'', directed by

R. Malcolm Jones R. Malcolm Jones is an American music video and motion picture director. Jones is a graduate of the University of Miami. While a student at the university, Jones was granted the Eastman Kodak Scholarship. He is its youngest recipient. Jones also rec ...

. Since 2017, she has starred, co-written, and co-produced the

''Giants'', which streams on

's YouTube channel. She plays Journee in the series. Her performance in ''Giants'' garnered her a

nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2018, and a win in 2019. Baden also works as a writer and producer; she co-wrote and co-produced several episodes of ''Giants'', and has also written for ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. In May 2021, Baden's

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

collection, ''Far Away from Close to Home: A Black Millennial Woman in Progress'' will be published by

Three Rooms Press Three Rooms Press is a New York City-based small press.' It was founded in 1993 by Kat Georges and Peter Carlaftes with a focus on poetry, but the press now publishes mainly fiction, memoir, and art. Three Rooms Press's name was inspired by one o ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baden, Vanessa 1985 births Living people Actresses from Florida Florida State University alumni Satellite High School alumni African-American female comedians American women comedians Actors from Manhattan Beach, California Actresses from California African-American actresses American television actresses American film actresses American child actresses African-American child actresses African-American women writers American women film directors Film producers from California Comedians from California Film directors from California American women film producers 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American actresses 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women