Monique Coleman

Monique Coleman was born in South Carolina in the 1980's and started her acting career in theatre and television at a very young age. Her training began at the Workshop Theatre School of Dramatic Arts where she performed in over 15 plays. An acting class taught by a guest teacher actually turned out to be an audition, and resulted in her booking her first commercial. Coleman then began auditioning for anything she could in the Southeast region, landing several local and regional commercials as well as a few supporting roles in films. In addition to acting, Coleman was very involved in her community and school where she did everything from performing in plays to competing in forensic tournaments, volunteering with abused children, running track, and even cheer leading.

Monique Coleman made her first lead in the independent feature entitled Mother of the River which was shot in the historic Charleston, South Carolina. The film won numerous awards at film festivals in Chicago. Two years later, Coleman appeared as Young Donna in The Family Channel Movie The Ditchdigger's Daughters for which she was nominated for a Young Artists Award of Hollywood. During her sophomore year of high school, Coleman wrote, directed, produced, and starred in her own one-person play entitled "Voices from Within" with standing room only - audience numbering in the hundreds.

In 2005, Coleman had the honor of working opposite one of her heroes - the legendary James Earl Jones when she played Leesha in the 2005 Hallmark TV Movie The Reading Room. She received a 2006 Camie Award for the role and represented the film at the NAACP Image Awards.

In 2006, Coleman co-starred in High School Musical as Taylor McKessie. Then, she was a recurring guest star in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody along with Vanessa Hudgens. Coleman has had many other guest appearances on the television shows including, Boston Public, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle and Veronica Mars.

Coleman was also in the first ever Disney Games in 2006, on the Blue Team and in the second Disney Channel Games in 2007 on the Green Team. She won with both teams.