on the cover: sistah TALK FEATURE
Living in the Overflow of
G o o d T im e s Beautiful and multi-talented Bern Nadette Stanis was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of five, her grandmother took her to tap dance lessons where she began performing. She began acting after a play she was in during high school entitled "The Three Faces of Eve." She graduated with honors from Erasmus High School and was accepted to Julliard School of Performing Arts where she received her B.A. in Drama. Bern Nadette was picked out to read for the role of Thelma in "Good Times" while she was competing in a beauty pageant. She is known all over the world for her role as Thelma in one of the funniest (and few) sitcoms featuring an African American family. Her beautiful face, singing and dancing ability, and sharp 70's responses to Thelma's annoying brother JJ, made Bern Nadette an "it" girl and sex symbol of the 70's. Bern Nadette Stanis is best known as the quick witted, sexy savvy and the original “It” girl, Thelma Evans, from the groundbreaking, first African American sitcom, “Good Times.” The still sexy 70’s star needs no redefining. Bern Nadette remains the personification of the ‘gem’ that young girls want to emulate and that we’ve all come to know and love. Undeniably, the onyx beauty is exquisitely graceful in the naturalist of forms. A classy sophisticated and humble spirit is all embodied in this brilliant actress and author. Bern Nadette’s place in television history has been secured not solely based on her undeniable sex appeal and good looks, but instead based on her undeniable contributions to redefining the role of the young black girl from ghettos across America in the minds of the overwhelming masses prone to stereotypic beliefs. Bern Nadette through ‘Thelma’ proved to audiences everywhere that Black girls with the support of their strong families have sky-is-the limit dreams and unshakeable faith and hope! Bern Nadette (Thelma) showed that a ‘ghetto girl’ from Chicago’s inner city projects lived a life full of hopes and dreams girded by intelligence, respect, dignity and grace, and for Bern Nadette Stanis these characteristics weren’t learned in acting class. Bern Nadette is a wonderfully trained and graceful dancer as was witnessed on many of the Good Times episodes. In everything that Bern Nadette did it was marked with beauty, form and style extraordinaire. Without question as long as there is a television, there will be a Bern Nadette Stanis across our TV screens with her dramatic, comedic, witty one liners, daintiness, sexy but innocent, and daddy’s little girl charm.
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SISTAH TALK | APRIL – JUNE, 2013 | WWW.THESISTAHSMINISTRY.COM
