Denyce Lawton

Lawton is of African-American and Korean descent. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Lawton is the middle child of three siblings. She lived a military life with her family abroad in such countries as South Korea and Japan. Her family moved around the United States, living primarily in Neptune, New Jersey then in Washington D.C. where she graduated from Largo High School in Largo, Maryland. She grew up with R&B singer Mýa and has been best friends since childhood.

Lawton is best known for her four seasons as a series regular on the #1 Cable Comedy Series & 6 time NAACP Best Comedy Series Winner, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, where she plays the character Dana the manicurist in the barber shop.

Lawton has recently completed 9 films including her recent leading role in the Up Original Movie The Dempsey Sisters (in which she is also a co-producer) and Swirl Films & New Image Movie Frat Brothers, which she also co-produced. Lawton immediately went straight to filming and completed her leading role in the Dramedy Movie entitled Jump, where she held her own amongst the cast of comedians also starring Esau McGraw & Brian Hooks.

Her other film credits, include UP TV’s Original Movie Between Sisters, Winnerz, Act Like You Love Me, Switchin’ The Script, ABFF & HBFF crowd pleaser The Coalition, UP TV Original movie The Love You Save, & Lions Gate Thriller The Helpers (Fall 2013).

Lawton also starred opposite Numb3rs stars Alimi Ballard & Rob Morrow in an Inception inspired short film title Interception, opposite Reagan Gomez-Preston & Wesley Jonathan in an original family web series Almost Home, as well as opposite Calvin Snoop Dogg Broadus in Malice N Wonderland.

Outside of House Of Payne and her other television and film work, Lawton has starred in Redline (an action auto thriller) & horror thriller Dead Tone.

Lawton began her entertainment goals and career as a background dancer in Broadway theater, and then later for recording artists such as 'N Sync, Mýa, Nelly, Jagged Edge, Ja Rule, Puff Daddy aka Sean Combs, & many others. Wanting to set her goals higher, Denyce ventured into the music industry as a backdoor into the film industry. Denyce served as assistant Vice President of Urban Promotions at Warner Bros. Records, then later became A & R at Priority Records in New York City.

A fast and dedicated worker, Lawton gained unmatched experience and knowledge that would prove to be critical in the development of creative properties working as personalassistant to Record Executive & mogul Irv Gotti at The Inc. Records (Formerly Murder Inc Records) then later finally transitioning into the film industry working as an Assistant Junior Publicist at 20th Century Fox Films. Soon after, Lawton utilized her deep-rooted creativity, WB ties and Fox affiliations to share her unique talent and on-screen charisma, hosting a multitude of shows and events.

With limited experience and opportunities, Lawton participated in several Theatrical Plays as well as the famous Shakespeare In The Park Company while she began modeling for Kemi Oil, FUBU, Adidas, Enyce, Karl Kani and Baby Phat. While pursuing her acting and modeling career, she conquered a solid presence in notable Hip Hop/R&B/Pop music videos; "The Way" by Clay Aiken, "Peaches & Cream" by 112, "One Mic" by Nas, and "Anything" by Jaheim, solely to accumulate enough camera experience and money to fund her acting pursuits & move to Los Angeles.

Amongst her accomplishments, Lawton has also become the new, fresh and first African American-Asian face of the AZN Comcast Campaign as well as a SummerCampaign for Coors Light. Lawton has also been in the "Bacardi & Cola" commercial series as well as Jeep Grand Cherokee, Pepsi, Nike, Turbotax and Coors Light commercials over the years.

She has also been featured in and graced the covers of several magazines, including MAMI Magazine, Black Men, The Source, Today's Black Woman, BQE Magazine, Smooth, Edge Magazine, XXL, J’Adore, Smooth Girl, Daily News, Mass Appeal, and XXL Presents Eye Candy Magazine.

Lawton is conversational in Korean.[1] On March 24, 2011, Lawton's brother, Gregory Lawton, Jr., was murdered in Temple Hills, Maryland.[2]

• Denyce Lawton on IMDb
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