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Early life

Coles was born in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father was the first black Dean of the Pratt Institute.⁴ She attended a private Lutheran school and was quiet and studious until high school, when her sense of humor emerged.⁵ She graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1980.⁶ Her father was an Episcopal priest.⁷

In 1984 Coles was first runner-up among 45 contestants in the first Big Beautiful Woman Fashion and Beauty Pageant in Atlantic City, sponsored by Big Beautiful Woman Magazine.⁸ That development led to a change in plans for Coles, who was in college and was considering a career in cultural antrhopology. She began modeling for Lane Bryant and made Burger King commercials.⁹

Career

Encouraged by the audience's response to her comedy sketch at the beauty pageant, Coles began her career in stand-up comedy in 1984. "Once I saw the reaction of the audience," she said, "I knew this was what I wanted to do."¹⁰ After a nightclub owner told her that she should gain 40 pounds for a "Nell Carter look", she instead changed her eating habits and began exercising, losing 50 pounds in five months.¹¹

Coles has appeared on many television shows, including Frasier ("Dr." Mary Thomas),¹² Six Feet Under, Celebrity Mole, Living Single and The Geena Davis Show. Early in her career, she appeared as one of the hosts of It's Showtime at the Apollo. She was an original cast member on the sketch comedy series In Living Color that appeared on the FOX network. After leaving "In Living Color", she then got the role as Synclaire James on Living Single and won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She appeared as the mother of Spirit on UPN's One on One. Coles is a published author; her book is called I'm Free But It Will Cost You, ISBN 978-0-7868-8322-6, Hyperion Books, 1998.

Coles appeared on Celebrity Mole: Hawaii and was the first contestant to be eliminated. At the reunion of the show, she was one of two celebrities (the other was Michael Boatman) to correctly guess that Frederique van der Wal was the series' saboteur, Kathy Griffin was the winner, and Erik von Detten was the runner-up. Coles also joined other celebrities for a weight loss journey on the VH-1 reality show, Celebrity Fit Club. After 16 weeks, she lost a total of 24 lbs, and dropping nearly 4 percentage points in body fat, going from 34.7% to 31%. She accomplished this with the help of her team, "Ralphie's Angels". She lost 10.2% of her body weight, dropping down to 196 lbs.

Coles was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of To Tell the Truth during its second season. She was also featured as a guest host on two episodes of The View. Coles was a co-host of the syndicated daytime television show In The Loop With iVillage alongside The Apprentice winner Bill Rancic and fellow season one contestant Ereka Vetrini. She has recently joined the cast of 10 Items or Less on TBS.

On September 30, 2009, she hosted the game show Pay It Off, lasted for one season on BET, which is similar to Debt. In 2010, she appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race. She appeared in an episode of TV One's series "Life After" in late 2011.

Coles has also performed as a stand-up comedian, with some of her material dealing with her struggle with being overweight at times.¹³

Personal life

Coles married Reggie Mckiver, a former SWAT police officer, in the Dominican Republic, in 2015.¹⁴

Filmography

Film

Television

Documentary

Awards and nominations

External links

• Kim Coles at IMDb

References

1. "Birthdays". Houston Chronicle. January 11, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2012. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2009_4688803/birthdays.html ↩

2. "Celebrity Birthdays". Jet. January 16, 2006. p. 3. /wiki/Jet_(magazine) ↩

3. BET Shows' Pay It Off- August 2009 https://www.bet.com/photo-gallery/2jpjzk/pay-it-off-kim-coles/uwofzx ↩

4. Poe, Janita (August 29, 1992). "Kim Coles finds life after 'Living Single'". Chicago Tribune. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 4E. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAF8EB1A57FCD02&p_docnum=100&p_queryname=7 ↩

5. Poe, Janita (August 29, 1992). "Kim Coles finds life after 'Living Single'". Chicago Tribune. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 4E. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAF8EB1A57FCD02&p_docnum=100&p_queryname=7 ↩

6. "Brooklyn Tech High School Alumni". Brooklyn Technical High School. Retrieved June 25, 2023. http://www.denicecware.com/brooklyn-tech-high-school-denice-ware ↩

7. Raterman, David (August 6, 2002). "Kim Coles takes the guest role in Monologues". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Florida, Fort Lauderdale. p. E 1. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/image/284694592/?match=1&terms=%22Big%20Beautiful%20Woman%22%20Coles ↩

8. Ellis, Rosemary (June 16, 1984). "There They Are: Big, Beautiful and Beauty Queens". The Press. New Jersey, Atlantic City. p. 15. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city/173406618/ ↩

9. Raterman, David (August 6, 2002). "Kim Coles takes the guest role in Monologues". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Florida, Fort Lauderdale. p. E 1. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/image/284694592/?match=1&terms=%22Big%20Beautiful%20Woman%22%20Coles ↩

10. Abbott, Jim (June 14, 1991). "After 'In Living Color,' Kim Coles gets on with her life". The Patriot-News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Orlando Sentinel. p. C 6. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-news-kim-coles/173410872/ ↩

11. Abbott, Jim (June 14, 1991). "After 'In Living Color,' Kim Coles gets on with her life". The Patriot-News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Orlando Sentinel. p. C 6. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-news-kim-coles/173410872/ ↩

12. "Kim Coles: Credits". TVGuide.com. Retrieved December 23, 2011. https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/kim-coles/credits/190351 ↩

13. Barber, Michel'le (April 1, 1991). "Comedian says ... fat isn't funny: Kim Coles loses 50 pounds, finds husband and new fans". Ebony.[dead link] https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-10502557 ↩

14. Apatoff, Alex. "Kim Coles' Wedding Dress: See Exclusive Photos and Get All the Scoop!". stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com. People Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150714182840/http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2015/07/09/kim-coles-wedding-dress-photos/ ↩