Gabrielle Union's Real Name: Gabrielle Monique Union

Quick answer: The actress is known professionally as Gabrielle Union. Encyclopedia.com and Notable Biographies independently give the name Gabrielle Monique Union and list Omaha, Nebraska, as her birthplace. Those accounts do not agree on the year: one Encyclopedia.com article dates the birth to 1973, while Notable Biographies and another Encyclopedia.com article date it to October 29, 1972, The published accounts therefore record more than one year.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented name Gabrielle Monique Union. Notable Biographies says she was born Gabrielle Monique Union on October 29, 1972, in Omaha, Nebraska, the middle of three daughters of Sylvester E. Union and Teresa Union. An Encyclopedia.com article independently says Gabrielle Monique Union was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1973, the middle child in a family of three daughters, and that the family moved to Pleasanton, California, in 1981 after her father's job transfer. Another Encyclopedia.com article on the same publisher site dates the birth to October 29, 1973, in Omaha. Notable Biographies independently says she later attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and earned a degree in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Career highlights

Notable Biographies says an internship at a modeling agency led to television work, including a guest role on Saved by the Bell: The New Class in 1995, and later to teen films including She's All That (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), and her breakthrough in Bring It On (2000), followed by Two Can Play That Game (2001), Deliver Us from Eva (2002 in one listing; 2003 in another), and Bad Boys II (2003). Encyclopedia.com independently names Ten Things I Hate About You, She's All That, Bring It On, The Brothers, Two Can Play That Game, Deliver Us from Eva, Breakin' All the Rules, and Bad Boys II, and records television work including City of Angels and a role on Friends. Notable Biographies independently notes a Friends appearance in 2001 and says she later co-starred in the 2003 film Bad Boys II. Encyclopedia.com independently records that Friends role as well.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Gabrielle Union or Gabrielle Monique Union are looking for the same actress, including the early 2000s films most often associated with her work. Encyclopedia.com and Notable Biographies support the name used in the title.