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As an actress, Keke Palmer has already established herself as one of the fastest rising young stars of her generation. Her talents span film, television, and music alike.
Palmer was the title character in the Lions Gate Films/Starbucks Entertainment sleeper hit Akeelah and the Bee, opposite actor Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett. In the movie, Palmer plays Akeelah Anderson, an 11-year-old girl who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Her breakthrough performance has received praise from many film critics and organizations. Among the list of nominations received, Akeelah and the Bee was listed as on of NBR's 2006 Top Independent Films of the Year as well as four nominations from the NAACP Image Awards. Palmer alone won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture as well as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture by the Black Movie Awards. She has also received nominations for Most Promising Newcomer by the Chicago Film Critics, Best Actress by the Black Reel Awards, and Best Young Actress by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
On the small screen Palmer starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! in January of 2007. The premiere broke the network records for an original television movie premiere with 8.2 million viewers and stood as basic cable's most-watched program for the entire day. Palmer is also featured on the movie's soundtrack and is the only artist with two songs on the album. The soundtrack landed at the top of the charts as the third best selling album in its first week of release and remained in the top 10 for over a month.
In 2007 Palmer's debut pop/R&B album So Uncool dropped for Atlantic Records. In support fo the release, she embarked on a twelve city tour with the WNBA where she performed songs from her debut album So Uncool as the half-time special entertainment as well as headlining Disney's 2007 Jingle Jam Tour. Palmer also signed a music publishing deal with Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. in 2007 as well as signing on to headline Sanrio Inc.'s official Hello Kitty CD with the track "Come on, Come on" released in late 2008.
She also starred opposite Sam Jackson and Eva Mendes in The Cleaner. The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival to strong reviews. In 2008, Miss Palmer received rave reviews for her performance in The Longshots, a true story about the first female to quarterback an all boys football team to Pop Warner Nationals.
Palmer began her career with a small role in the feature film Barbershop 2: Back in Business at the age of nine, opposite Queen Latifah. That role led to a series of guest-starring roles on television shows like Strong Medicine, Cold Case, ER, and Law & Order.
She later went on to star in the Emmy-nominated made for TV movie The Wool Cap, opposite William H. Macy. Her performance in The Wool Cap earned her a NAACP Image Award as well as a coveted Screen Actors Guild nomination in the Best Leading Actress category, alongside Charlize Theron, Hilary Swank, Glen Close, and Patricia Heaton. This nomination put Palmer in the record books as the youngest actor to ever be nominated by the Guild in a Lead Actor category.
Her other film and TV credits include co-starring in the made for television movie, Knights of the South Bronx with Ted Danson, a pilot for her own show on Disney Channel, Keke & Jamal, and the Lionsgate film Medea's Family Reunion starring Tyler Perry, Cicely Tyson, and Dr. Maya Angelou.
Keke can be seen as the star of her very own hit television show, True Jackson V.P. on the Nickelodeon Network. It's about a 15 year old girl named True Jackson (Palmer) who becomes a vice president at a billion dollar fashion company. When it debuted in November 2008, over 5 million tuned in to watch making it the largest debut in Nickelodeon's 29 year history! Recently, Keke was honored with a NAACP Image Award as Best Actress is a Children's Program for her role as True Jackson.
Later this year, she can also be seen on the big screen playing opposite Kevin Spacey and Robin Williams in the feature film Shrink, which was a crowd pleaser at Sundance , the movie is scheduled to be released in theaters 2009.
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