Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade (born Gabrielle Monique Union on October 29, 1972) is an American actress, producer, and author. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Theresa (née Glass), a phone company manager and social worker, and Sylvester E. Union, a military sergeant. She was raised in Pleasanton, California.
Union began her acting career in the 1990s, initially appearing in television sitcoms such as Saved by the Bell: The New Class and Family Matters. Her early film roles included appearances in teen comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and She’s All That (1999). She gradually transitioned to more prominent roles in both film and television.
Union’s breakthrough role came in the teen cheerleading film Bring It On (2000), where she played Isis, the head cheerleader of the Clovers. This led to more substantial roles in films such as The Brothers (2001), Deliver Us from Eva (2003), Bad Boys II (2003), and Neo Ned (2005), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress. She also starred in Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls (2007). Union starred in the CBS drama series City of Angels (2000). From 2013 to 2019, she starred as Mary Jane Paul in the BET drama series Being Mary Jane, for which she received critical acclaim and multiple NAACP Image Awards.
More recently, she starred in and executive produced the Spectrum Originals series L.A.’s Finest (2019-2020), a spin-off of the Bad Boys franchise. She has also produced and starred in films such as Breaking In (2018) and The Perfect Find (2023).