“SHANI PRIDE is a very good young actress who has an engaging quality to her work. I think, for her, a promising future lies ahead.”

-- Sidney Poitier --


Shani Pride was born and raised in Los Angeles. She gravitated towards the arts at an early age and chose to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

There, she landed her first role as Candy Girl #2 in Guys & Dolls. She had no lines and was on stage for less than a minute (most of that in shadow), but as far as she was concerned, a star was born.

After LACHSA, she attended the UCLA Theater School, studied abroad in Italy, gained Sidney Poitier as her mentor and began performing in film and television. She garnered critical acclaim for her work on MTV's THE REAL WORLD MOVIE, co-starred in LOVE DON'T COST A THING, with Nick Cannon, Christina Milian and Steve Harvey, has done a substantial amount of work on television shows like CSI:MIAMI, CHARMED, BOSTON PUBLIC, STRONG MEDICINE, JUST FOR KICKS, HANG TIME, and ONE WORLD, and has a slew of independent films under her belt, including LOVE STINKS, TRU LOVED, LEGACY, and APARTMENT A.

Shani has also started producing films and television. Her first project is a comedy starring Cedric the Entertainer called Grande Larceny.