Garcelle Beauvais (sometimes credited as Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon; born November 26, 1966 in St. Marc, Haiti) is a Haitian American actress and former fashion model. Beauvais is known for her role as Assistant District Attorney Valerie Heywood in the TV program NYPD Blue and Francesca Monroe on The Jamie Foxx Show.
Born in St. Marc, Haiti, Beauvais was born to Maria Claire and Axel. Garcelle has six older siblings. After her parents divorced, Beauvais, her mother and siblings moved to Massachusetts. While her mother was attending nursing school, Beauvais went to boarding school. At age 16 the family moved to Miami.
At age 17 Garcelle went to New York to pursue a career as a fashion model, and was signed with Ford Models. She modeled print ads for Avon, Mary Kay Cosmetics and Clairol. Beauvais also modeled in catalogs for Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. She has appeared in Essence and Ebony magazine. She also walked the catwalk for Calvin Klein and Isaac Mizrahi.
Beauvais has been married to Mike Nilon since 2001. She has one son, Oliver (born 1992) from her previous marriage to Daniel Saunders.
