Yvette Nicole Brown Shares the Secret to Her Positivity and Joy

The 2024 Summer Olympics may be over, but Yvette Nicole Brown deserves to win a gold medal in the underrated sport of endurance and positivity.

On this August afternoon in Los Angeles, the actress sped through her two-hour voiceover session and then zipped home—“You should have seen me racing in my car!”—and then ran into her bathroom so she could apply makeup in 15 minutes flat and look Zoom-ready for her Parade interview at 6:30 p.m. sharp. She was also set to leave first thing in the morning and head to Anaheim, Calif., to host and participate in a series of panels for Disney’s D23 convention.

Brown is proud to flex these muscles, even if she rarely comes up for air.

“Nothing would make me happier than to know that my calling card is kindness and caring for people,” she says. “And I hope everyone knows that if I’m supposed to be somewhere and working, I’m going to be professional and on time.”

She has the experience in Hollywood to back up her good name. Per IMDB, she’s racked up a whopping 170 movie and TV acting credits since 2000. Name a popular TV series in the past 20 years—The Office, House, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Victorious, Will & Grace, 7th Heaven, Psych—and she’s popped up on it. That was also her as Shirley Bennett on the whip-smart NBC comedy Community. On the film side, Brown was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in Avengers: Endgame and recently voiced the hockey coach in the summer smash Inside Out 2.

“I’ve always just said ‘yes’ to things and found myself in all these places,’” she says.

But the 53-year-old East Cleveland, Ohio, native is probably best known for playing … herself. Funny, sunny, warm and open, she’s been a welcome presence on no less than 135 game show, variety show and talk show episodes over the years. Unlike some of her peers, she loves to sound off on social media. Last fall, she was thrilled to show off her diamond ring upon her engagement to actor Anthony Davis.

Now Brown is launching a podcast that shows off all sides of her personality.

On Lemonada Media’s “Squeezed” (launching on Aug. 21; new episodes drop every Wednesday), Brown discusses all the ups and downs of the caregiving system as she talks with a variety of healthcare providers, care workers and caregivers from all backgrounds. The series is drawn from her experience caring for her father, Omar Qaiyim. (She left Community in 2014 to take on the responsibility full time.)

“The series is a love letter to those who care for others, whether that’s an elderly parent or the person next door or your kids,” she says. “It’s informative and a wonderful respite because everyone on this planet will either be a caregiver or receive care. ‘Squeezed’ is about the people right in the middle.”

Brown discusses all the above and much more during a lively chat for this week’s Parade cover story.

Mara Reinstein: Let’s hear about your relationship with your dad. It must be very special.

Yvette Nicole Brown: I've been my dad's full-time caregiver for 11 years. He has Alzheimer’s and he used to live with me. Unfortunately, he had a fall a few months ago. Now he's bedridden and requires 24-hour care that I can't give him anymore. He still remembers me and says “Hi” when I come in. But as far as having long conversations with this man that is delightful and funny and wise, we can't do that anymore.

Is the podcast therapeutic on some level?

It’s so serendipitous that this all happened at the same time I was doing “Squeezed,” because at the start of recording, my dad was in the house, and we were great. And now we’re winding down on our episodes, and dad is in boarding care and is non-verbal, so just like that, over the span of three months, everything changed. That's the story of caregiving.

What’s the tone? It’s not exactly an episode-by-episode recap of a favorite TV series.

I’m going to find the silver lining. We're talking about caregiving from every side. It’s not just people that are in the trenches. Even in the midst of these 11 years of my dad, we laugh way more than we cry. Even though this is a difficult topic for a lot of people, it's joyous to have someone that loves you enough to take care of you, and it's joyous to love someone enough to take care of them. So we lean into the joy.

Do fans expect you to maintain your funny and upbeat persona when you’re out and about?

Yeah, I think they do. But thankfully my natural set point is joy. I’m going to drop two names, but it's important because Wilmer Valderrama once told me a story about the great Robin Williams. Robin told him that whenever he was out, he took the time to meet his fans and made sure to take time and give them the best of him. When Wilmer asked why, Robin said, “I may be meeting them for five minutes of my life, but they will tell the story of meeting me for the rest of theirs. At dinner parties and at weddings, they'll talk about the time they met me. I would like to leave a sweet aroma. Now they can tell a nice story of the kind man that was in Mrs. Doubtfire.”

Related: Sally Field Recalls Act of Kindness From the Late Robin Williams

How did you apply that philosophy to your life?

So that means I'm going to rally. If I stop at a grocery store and someone wants to talk to me, I will make the time to talk to them because that's their moment to talk with someone whose work they admire or appreciate. I'm going to give them that moment. And if I have a day where I'm a crabapple, I stay in the house.

Speaking of emotions, why do you think Inside Out 2 was such a monster success? Can people just relate a lot to Anxiety?

That’s the first answer. We all have anxiety, and it's a perfect depiction of what anxiety does to you and how insidious it is to pick apart things that haven't happened and may never happen. I also think the first one was so beloved and people have been waiting for another visit with Riley and her emotions.

Your big break was a standout role in the sitcom Girlfriends in 2003. How did that change your life?

I got random calls from agents, which had never happened. It also gave me confidence. Before that, I didn’t know if acting was the right thing for me. When I booked Girlfriends for two episodes off the bat, I was like, Maybe I can do this! I booked my first pilot from that, which was a Kevin Hart sitcom called The Big House. My career has not stopped.

But that Kevin Hart show didn’t last long. You’ve also co-starred on a few sitcoms that never got off the mat. How do you get over something like that?

The Big House got canceled after six episodes. It was supposed to be 13, and we thought we’d get 22. I had been driving a beater car—but because I was on a new show, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a cute little Honda. I came to the set the next day with the bow still on the hood and all excited. Then I got called into a meeting and was told we were canceled. So I was taught on my very first show that this is not going to last. You just have to be prepared to hit the ground running when it ends.

Do you have a group of showbiz girlfriends to commiserate with?

“I'm blessed with a plethora of amazing Black women that I lean on in this industry who understand the struggle. Women like Kim Fields, Cree Summer, Octavia Spencer. I also am a part of a group of "Black Nerds" in the industry. We call ourselves the "Blerd Brunch crew" and we have brunch together every Sunday.” And the biggest name I'll drop is Janet Jackson.

Janet Jackson! Let’s hear that story.

This is what I've learned: A closed mouth doesn't get fed. I had been talking in interviews for years about how much I love Janet, like probably a decade. So gosh, about five years ago, I was on the talk show The Real and talking about Janet's residency in Las Vegas. The heavens dropped, and I got an album signed by Janet with a note from her saying, “Please come to Vegas and see the show.” I went and we became friends. And I'll say this: She’s actually as wonderful and lovely as you imagine.

Related: Mrs. Doubtfire Cast Delights with Rare Reunion Photo

Your diamond ring is gleaming. Were you always a “never say never” person when it came to getting engaged?

I got engaged at 52 and I fell in love with the love of my life at 51. I love telling my story because it’s never too late. I was single for decades. But God made someone so delicious and specific that I had to wait for his first marriage to end to get with him! We had been friends when we were in our 20s, but we were always platonic. But I didn't do nothing while waiting—I built a great life for myself. I took my dad in and cared for him. I spent time with my mother [Fran, who died in 2021] and my friends, and I built a career. So when it's your time, your person will come.

Do you have a wedding date yet?

I think we need to get a date, because I'm coming up on a year of being engaged. But life keeps happening—I’ve been dealing with my dad. I just haven’t been able to focus on planning a wedding.

What’s going on with the Community movie? Will it ever happen?

It will happen! We don’t know when, but I'm on board. And that might be a scoop because for the longest time, it wasn't confirmed. It was going to happen this June, but everything got pushed because of the [SAG-AFTRA] strike last year.

Related: Joel McHale Dishes on the Possibility of a Community Movie

What else do you see yourself doing in the next few years?

People may not believe this, but I'm not a very ambitious person. But there are other things I'd like to do: I would love to be on a multi-cam sitcom that gets 10 years. I'd love to have a Friends or Seinfeld or Big Bang Theory. And I think there's a talk show in me. I’d love to do one that’s inspirational, celebrates people’s wins and is a warm destination in the afternoon. I also enjoy using my voice in the advocacy and philanthropy space.

Where does all this positivity really come from?

I know that life just always keeps moving. We’re in the summer, and it's hot. I hate how hot it is. Just wait a little while and if you get a little breeze, you get to see the leaves change. And then you get sick of that, the next thing you know, you get to put on your warm clothes and go sledding. Then after you get sick of that, you get to watch some beautiful flowers bloom. That's life! Even if you love it, it's going to change. If you hate it, it's going to change. But you must move with the seasons.

This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. 

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