Troy Beyer
Encyclopedia
Troy Yvette Beyer is an American
film director
, screenwriter
and actress.
to an African American
mother and a Jewish father, Beyer began her acting career with a role on the children’s program Sesame Street
when she was just four years old. She studied acting and psychobiology at City University of New York
's School for the Arts. After landing a bit part in Francis Ford Coppola's
The Cotton Club
(1984), Beyer moved to Los Angeles
, where she became a regular on the ABC
prime-time soap opera
Dynasty
in 1986, playing Jackie Deveraux, the daughter of Diahann Carroll's character Dominique Deveraux
. She went on to earn ShoWest's Newcomer of the Year Award for her leading role in the feature Rooftops
(1989).
Since then, Beyer has acted in features such as Disorderlies
(1987), Weekend at Bernie's II
(1993), Eddie
(1996) starring Whoopi Goldberg
, Robert Altman
’s The Gingerbread Man
(1998) starring Kenneth Branagh
and Robert Downey Jr.
, and John Q
, (2002) starring Denzel Washington
.
But it was in 1997 that she put her writing skills to use, making her screenwriting debut with B*A*P*S, starring Halle Berry
. Unhappy with how her script had been changed during the course of filming, the following year she decided to direct her next screenplay, Let's Talk About Sex
(1998), also playing a starring role. Beyer made a trailer and took it to the Sundance Film Festival
, where she handed it out to film executives. The film was quickly picked up by Fine Line Features
. She next wrote and directed Love Don’t Co$t a Thing
(2003) for Warner Brothers, based on the hit 1987 movie Can’t Buy Me Love.
Beyer appeared in music videos for Prince's
song "Sexy MF" and Biz Markie's
1991 minor hit single "What Comes Around Goes Around".
She was married to producer Mark Burg
and they have a son.
Beyer, who now goes by her birth name, Troy Byer, is a motivational speaker
and self-help
author who has written a book entitled Ex-Free: 9 Keys to Freedom After Heartbreak. She is a regular guest on The Steve Harvey
Morning Show.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and actress.
Life and career
Born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
mother and a Jewish father, Beyer began her acting career with a role on the children’s program Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
when she was just four years old. She studied acting and psychobiology at City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
's School for the Arts. After landing a bit part in Francis Ford Coppola's
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
The Cotton Club
The Cotton Club (film)
The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime-drama, centered on a famed Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club.The movie was co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines...
(1984), Beyer moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, where she became a regular on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
prime-time soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
in 1986, playing Jackie Deveraux, the daughter of Diahann Carroll's character Dominique Deveraux
Dominique Deveraux
Dominique Deveraux is a fictional character on the American TV series Dynasty and its spin-off The Colbys...
. She went on to earn ShoWest's Newcomer of the Year Award for her leading role in the feature Rooftops
Rooftops (film)
Rooftops is a 1989 crime and dance drama film directed by Robert Wise, which follows the misadventures of two homeless teenagers in Manhattan....
(1989).
Since then, Beyer has acted in features such as Disorderlies
Disorderlies
Disorderlies is a 1987 comedy film starring the rap group, The Fat Boys, and Ralph Bellamy.-Plot summary:Winslow Lowry, the no-good, indebted nephew of elderly, infirm billionaire Albert Dennison seeks to speed his uncle's demise by hiring three of the most inept orderlies he can possibly find...
(1987), Weekend at Bernie's II
Weekend at Bernie's II
Weekend at Bernie's II is a comedy film released in 1993 by TriStar Pictures and was the sequel to the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's.- Plot :...
(1993), Eddie
Eddie (film)
Eddie is a 1996 comedy film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Frank Langella. It was a moderate success, grossing $31,387,164 in the US.The film was directed by Steve Rash.- Plot summary :...
(1996) starring Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
’s The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Man Thegingerbread Runner is the anthropomorphic protagonist in a fairy tale about a cookie's escape from various pursuers and his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox. The Gingerbread Boy makes his first print appearance in the May 1875 issue of St...
(1998) starring Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
and Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...
, and John Q
John Q
John Q is a 2002 film directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it...
, (2002) starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
.
But it was in 1997 that she put her writing skills to use, making her screenwriting debut with B*A*P*S, starring Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
. Unhappy with how her script had been changed during the course of filming, the following year she decided to direct her next screenplay, Let's Talk About Sex
Let's Talk About Sex (film)
Let's Talk About Sex is a 1998 film written, directed, and starring Troy Beyer.The film was rated NC-17 by the MPAA. According to Beyer, among other items the MPAA would have required to give the film a lower rating, Beyer was asked to remove a scene where a fully dressed woman licks a peach in...
(1998), also playing a starring role. Beyer made a trailer and took it to the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, where she handed it out to film executives. The film was quickly picked up by Fine Line Features
Fine Line Features
Fine Line Features was the speciality films division of New Line Cinema. It produced, purchased, distributed and marketed films of a more "indie" flavor than its parent company...
. She next wrote and directed Love Don’t Co$t a Thing
Love Don't Cost a Thing (film)
Love Don't Cost a Thing, stylized as Love Don't Co$t a Thing, is a 2003 teen comedy film written and directed by Troy Beyer and starring Nick Cannon and Christina Milian It also stars Steve Harvey, Kenan Thompson and Kal Penn...
(2003) for Warner Brothers, based on the hit 1987 movie Can’t Buy Me Love.
Beyer appeared in music videos for Prince's
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
song "Sexy MF" and Biz Markie's
Biz Markie
Marcel Theo Hall better known by his stage name, Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989...
1991 minor hit single "What Comes Around Goes Around".
She was married to producer Mark Burg
Mark Burg
Mark Burg is an American film producer and actor, perhaps best known for his work on the SAW series of films and on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.-Career:...
and they have a son.
Beyer, who now goes by her birth name, Troy Byer, is a motivational speaker
Motivational speaker
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...
and self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
author who has written a book entitled Ex-Free: 9 Keys to Freedom After Heartbreak. She is a regular guest on The Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey
Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey is an American actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author. He is best known as the star of the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy...
Morning Show.