Beauvais was born in Saint-Marc, Haiti, to Marie-Claire Beauvais, a nurse, and Axel Jean Pierre, a lawyer. After her parents divorced when she was a child, she moved with her mother to the United States at age seven along with her six elder siblings, and settled in Peabody, Massachusetts where she enrolled in elementary school. She shortly attended Peabody Veteran’s Memorial High School until she was 16. Upon her arrival, Beauvais briefly only knew how to speak French and Creole, but learned how to speak English from watching Sesame Street on television.
Career
Modeling
Beauvais moved to Miami at 16 in an attempt to pursue a career in modeling, after driving down from Massachusetts and hoped to interview for a modeling agency without an appointment. She was approached while at a red light while putting on lipstick by the very owner of the agency she sought to see. After modeling with this agency for a about a year, Beauvais now seventeen, went to New York City to pursue a career as a fashion model, after signing with the Ford agency living with Eileen Ford and later modeled with Irene Marie Models. She modeled print ads for Avon, Mary Kay, and Clairol and in catalogs for Lerner New York Clothing Line, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom and walked the runway for Calvin Klein and Isaac Mizrahi and also shot TV commercials for Burdines. Beauvais has appeared magazines for Essence and Ebony, and was the cover model for Jet’s June 6, 2011 issue. She also posed for Playboys August 2007 issue.
Film and television
In 1994, Beauvais first gained national attention as an actress playing the role of Cynthia Nichols in the primetime Aaron Spellingsoap operaModels Inc.. From 1996 to 2001, she co-starred in The Jamie Foxx Show as hotel employee Francesca "Fancy" Monroe and the love interest of Jamie Foxx's character, Jamie King. From 2001 to 2004, she played Assistant District Attorney Valerie Heywood and the love interest of Detective Baldwin Jones, played by Henry Simmons on NYPD Blue. In 2011 and 2012, Beauvais played Hanna Linden on the TNT law drama Franklin & Bash. In 2013, Beauvais once again played the love interest to Jamie Foxx, playing the First Lady while he played the President in White House Down. In 2017, she played the role of Doris Toomes, wife of Adrian Toomes aka Vulture, played by Michael Keaton, in . She starred in R. Kelly's music video for "Down Low ", as the wife of Ronald Isley and the lover of R. Kelly, delivering the title line as inducement for an affair. In 2001, after the Jamie Foxx Show ended its run, Beauvais appeared in Luther Vandross' music video, "Take You Out," playing Vandross' girlfriend. She also appeared on some episodes of Grimm as Henrietta. In 2016, Beauvais was named as one of the co-hosts of the syndicated infotainment discussion series Hollywood Today Live after a month-long period of guest hosting the show. In 2019, Bravo announced that Beauvais will join the cast of the reality-television series The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for its 10th season, which premiered on April 15, 2020. In 2019-2020, Beauvais portrayed Veronica Garland, the “Wicked Stepmother” character from Cinderella, on the second season of the CBS All Access American psychological thriller web television anthology seriesTell Me a Story.
Awards
2013 MPAH Haiti Movie Awards - Honorary Award from the
Other
In 2008, Garcelle launched her children's jewelry line called Petit Bijou. In 2013, she published a children's book, I Am Mixed, which was about racial diversity.
Personal life
She was married to producer Daniel Saunders; their marriage ended in divorce. They have a son, Oliver Saunders, born in 1991. Beauvais married Mike Nilon, a talent agent with Creative Artists Agency, in May 2001. Their twin sons, Jax Joseph and Jaid Thomas Nilon, were born on October 18, 2007. They had dealt with treatment over five years for infertility. In April 2010, Beauvais publicly accused Nilon of infidelity after he admitted he had been having an affair for 5 years. Beauvais filed for divorce on May 10, 2010, seeking joint custody of their sons.
