- Name: Chanté Adams
- Date of birth: December 16, 1994
- Age: 29 years old
- Nationality: American
- Education: Cass Technical High School in Midtown and Carnegie Mellon University (B.A.)
- Parents: Gregory and Edna Adams
- Height: 5 feet 6 inches
- Occupation: Actress
- Years active: 2009-present
- Net worth: $900,000
- Chanté Adams’ Instagram: chante_adams
Chanté Adams was just 23 years old when she made her on-screen debut as the title character in the biopic Roxanne Roxanne which chronicles the life and career of American rapper, Roxanne Shante. The actress who was born in Detroit, Michigan has since been featured in other notable movies and television series, including Monsters and Men, Good Girls Get High, Bad Hair, The Photograph¸ A Journal for Jordan, and many more. She has upcoming projects in post-production and from the look of things; the Detroit native may yet turn out to be a prolific actress with time.
Adams is barely four years into her acting career but the awards and recognition have already started rolling in. It is only a matter of time before she joins those at the top.
Chanté Adams hails from Detroit, Michigan
Adams was born in Detroit, Michigan, in the USA, on the 16th of December 1994, making her 29 years old. The American actress also spent her growing-up years in Detroit. The youngster’s artistic genes came from her dad, Gregory, who functioned as a vocalist with the Sounds of Blackness ensemble. Gregory was also a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Ecorse, where he was the choir director. Chanté’s mum Edna can also lay claim to some artistic genes as reports say she met her husband Gregory when they were both casts in a play during the 1980s, meaning she was into the performing arts.
Far from being her parents’ only child, Adams shared her childhood with three siblings – a sister and two brothers. Thanks to her parents’ foundation in the creative arts, they both supported their daughter from the onset. Gregory and Edna are staunch supporters of Detroit PAL and encouraged Chanté’s love for R&B music during her formative years.
Growing up in Detroit, Chanté Adams Joined Cass Technical High School in Midtown where she had her first brush with the performing arts. Proceeding to Carnegie Mellon University for further studies, the up-and-coming entertainer joined their drama school, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. The pursuit of an acting career took Adams to New York shortly after graduation.
Her first brush with the performing arts was a chance occurrence
It was by chance that Chanté Adams took up acting at the high school level. She was a freshman at Cass Technical High School when she accompanied her friend to an audition. According to Adams, her reason for tagging along to the audition was because she didn’t want to be left behind as that was her only friend. However, while sitting and waiting for her friend, she was told to audition if she was going to sit in the room.
After she scored a role, Adams went under the mentorship of a veteran drama teacher, Marilyn McCormick, who was honored at the 2016 Tony Awards with an award for excellence in theater education. Though McCormick is now on retirement, Adams still gives her old drama teacher the kudos for influencing her choice of joining the drama school at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. Marilyn has remained a source of advice to date.
How old was Adams when she debuted on the set of the biopic, Roxanne, Roxanne?
Barely one month after she made the move to New York, the blossoming movie star was called up by a casting agent to appear for an audition for the starring role in Roxanne Roxanne – American rapper Roxanne Shante’s biopic. The casting agent was well aware of the fact that Chanté Adams had no experience in the performing arts. However, the agent sought Adams out because she has witnessed the youngster act at CMU’s senior showcase, where managers, agents, and casting directors watched students display their acting prowess.
Chanté just took it as her debut audition but it soon turned into her first movie role and has remained the actress’ best-known project to date. The movie which centers on the life of the American hip-hop pioneer Roxanne Shante took off eight days after she won the role and despite being ill-equipped, Adams who just hit 23 did remarkably well as the cameras started rolling. The premiere was held at the Sundance Film Festival and for her effort, Chanté Adams won the Special Jury Prize in the category of Breakthrough Performance at Sundance in 2017.
Adams worked with a stellar cast and crew on the set of Roxanne Roxanne
Playing the role of a determined teenage Shanté who went through personal and career turmoil, Chanté Adams shared the screen with big names like Nia Long who portrayed the character of her alcoholic mother. According to Adams, Long got her back on set and played a big role in her overall success with the movie.
Next is Mahershala Ali who breathed life into the character of Shanté’s much older, abusive boyfriend. Adam Horowitz from the Beastie Boys played a cameo and the movie belong to the directorial portfolio of Michael Larnell who also takes the credit for writing the story. The producers include Pharrell Williams and Forest Whitaker, and the most interesting aspect of the production is that the real-life Shanté functioned as one of the executive producers of this compelling saga. The plot illustrates how the legendary rapper’s toughness and talent aided her in surviving the type of challenges that would normally destroy someone twice her age.
The takeaway from the biopic is that life on the other side will always be beautiful as long as you continue pushing and never give up.
A Journal for Jordan and other acting projects
Apart from Roxanne Roxanne which hit the airwave in 2017, Adams has been featured in several other notable roles. Barely a year after her onscreen debut, the rising star scored another part in Monsters and Men which was released in 2018; she appeared in Good Girls Get High the same year. In 2020, Adams played two major roles in Bad Hair and The Photograph. Her latest roles can be seen in the 2021 Voyagers and A Journal for Jordan where she shared the screen with Michael B. Jordan.
The actress was also seen in Beast Mode and Love Is a Growing Up. She is expected to take the center stage in the upcoming Amazon TV adaptation of the movie, A League of Their Own alongside movie greats like D’Arcy Carden, Roberta Colindrez, Abbi Jacobson, Priscilla Delgado, and Kelly McCormack.
Read Also: Celeste Desjardins – Quick Facts You Didn’t Know About The Taken Actress
Summary of Chanté Adams’s movies and TV shows
TV series
- Redwood Time as Tamara -2013
- Good Morning America as Self – 2018
- A League of Their Own (TV Series) (post-production) as Maxine ‘Max’ Chapman
Movies
- Love Is a Growing Up (Short) as Aevin – 2015
- Roxanne Roxanne as Roxanne Shante – 2017
- Monsters and Men as Zoe – 2018
- Good Girls Get High as Ashanti – 2018
- Beast Mode – 2019
- Bad Hair as Linda Bludso – 2020
- The Photograph as Young Christine Eames – 2020/1
- Voyagers as Phoebe – 2021
- A Journal for Jordan (post-production) as Dana Canedy – 2021
Soundtrack
- Roxanne Roxanne (performer: “Dusty”) – 2017
Who is Chanté Adams dating?
The answer is definitely not Micheal B. Jordan as many would speculate. The two actors really looked very cozy on the set of Journal For Jordan but that’s just professional. They did a great job and shared awesome chemistry but the romance did not continue outside the film location.
Jordan is currently dating a model identified as Lori Harvey and the two look like they are crazy in love. On the other hand, Adams is not in any known relationship. She’s relatively new to the spotlight and might not be ready to share such intimate details with the public.