Tamisha Akbar (born April 17, 1970 [1]), known professionally as Tami Roman, is an American television personality, model, actress, singer, businesswoman and producer. She first gained fame on The Real World: Los Angeles in 1993.[2] After making appearances and landing supporting roles in various television shows and films in the 1990s and 2000s, she became one of the breakout stars of VH1'sBasketball Wives (2010–2019).[3] Roman later starred in the television series The Family Business (2018–present), Truth Be Told (2019–2023), Haus of Vicious (2022-present) and The Ms. Pat Show (2021–present).
Tami Roman Monique Johnson Donyell Floyd Carlett Martin
During her time on The Real World: Los Angeles, Roman formed her own "En Vogue-esque" R&B girl group quartet called Reality.[4] Roman herself was one of the members (alongside Monique Johnson, Donyell Floyd, and Carlett Martin), and the rapper of the group as well. The group would subsequently sign a record contract with Mercury Records, and Roman changed the group's name from Reality to Female. Upon signing, they were offered the opportunity to join other African-American girl groups in recording the remake of R&B singer Joi's song "Freedom" for the motion picture soundtrack album, Panther.[5] The song featured other R&B girl groups such as En Vogue, SWV, TLC, For Real, Xscape, Brownstone, Y?N-Vee, and Changing Faces alongside solo vocalists such as Mary J. Blige, Monica and Aaliyah.[6] Roman's group also participated in cover versions of "If I Were Your Woman" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin for the film. Unfortunately, no group album materialized after the release of the film soundtrack.
Acting and reality television career
After securing and subsequently losing an acting role in 1991 classic Boyz n the Hood, Roman reportedly began taking acting classes from notable actress and director Chip Fields.[7] Fields would later assist Roman to parlay her TV fame into a legitimate acting career.[7] Roman gained more fame as she appeared as the dealer on the 2001 revival of Card Sharks, and on several other shows, including an episode of One on One (season 3, episode 4) and BET’s original tv series, The Parkers, as Dina (season 1, episode 14). In 2010, Roman became one of the main cast members on the VH1 reality series Basketball Wives. She was then cast on the Basketball Wives spinoff Basketball Wives LA, starting with the fourth season in 2015. Roman appeared on two episodes of the CBS show Extant. Roman could also be heard on Tami Roman's Love Talk & Hot Jamz with advice columnist and rapper Willie D of the Geto Boys and Reggie Youngblood. The show aired on Houston's KCOH Radio. Roman and her boyfriend Reggie Youngblood appeared on Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars for its third season, which premiered May 29, 2015. Roman plans to release both hair and cosmetic lines.[8]
After Roman released a series of parody short films titled "Bonnet Chronicles" on Instagram, the videos were produced into a scripted series on TIDAL in 2018.[9]
In 2018, Roman was cast as London Duncan-Grant in the BET crime drama series, The Family Business. In 2019, she had a recurring role opposite Vanessa Bell Calloway in the Bounce TV prime time soap opera, Saints & Sinners.[10] Later that year, Roman joined the cast of Apple TV+ drama series, Truth Be Told starring opposite Octavia Spencer. The series ended in 2023. In 2021, Roman was cast in the BET+ comedy series, The Ms. Pat Show starring comedian Ms. Pat, playing her sister, Denise.[11] Roman almost didn’t get the part because Ms. Pat refused to have any reality TV stars a part of her cast. Although Ms. Pat Show’s executive producer, Jordan Cooper, wrote Denise with Roman in mind based on her popular Bonnet Chronicles.[12] Also in 2021, Roman founded production company Roman Ramsey Productions.[13] Her first project was the talk-show Get Into It with Tami Roman for Fox Soul.[14]
In 2022, Roman starred and executive produced the BET drama series, Haus of Vicious.[15] Later that year she had a supporting role in the drama film Bid For Love for BET+.[16] In 2023, Roman produced and went to star in the Lifetime thriller film Girl in the Closet playing the role of sadistic and evil aunt of title character.[17][18] Also in 2023, Roman starred and executive produced the BET+ films Whatever It Takes and So Fly Christmas.[19][20]
Personal life
Roman has been married twice and has two children. On August 26, 1993, Roman married NBA player Kenny Anderson and together they had two daughters, Lyric Chanel (b. 1994) and Jazz Lauren (b. 1996). Roman and Anderson later divorced in February 2001.[21] Roman met and started dating Reggie Youngblood in 2013. They got married on August 17, 2018 in Las Vegas, which was documented on their spinoff special "Tami Ever After".[22]
