Today is Their Birthday-Musicians: July 1: rapper & actress Amanda Seales

Monday, July 1, 2013

July 1: rapper & actress Amanda Seales - AKA Amanda Diva- is 32-years-old today.

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Amanda Seales was born in Inglewood, California on July 1, 1981. Seales is Grenadian-American.

At the age of 12 she appeared on the Nickelodeon sitcom My Brother and Me, the show was a big hit on the network but was eventually canceled due to disagreements between the producers and creators of the show. During this period, Seales took a hiatus to focus on her education.

Attending the State University of New York (SUNY-Purchase,) Seales studied theater, and began writing poetry after a friend suggested she write her own spoken word book.

By 2002, she appeared on Def Jam Poetry to recite her original poem, "Hot Shit." In 1993, Seales made her debut in the film Cop and a Half.

In 2004, Amanda who was now calling herself “Seales,” (then Amanda Diva) released her debut Mixtape entitled "It's Bigger Than Hip Hop, Vol 1." After landing a job hosting MTV2, Seales began hosting a radio show on SIRIUS, the Hip-Hop Nation Show.

She also joined the DJ Drama/Don Cannon/DJ Sense-helmed Aphilliates crew, and published a book of poetry, all before receiving a degree in African-American studies from Columbia University.

In 2007 she was asked to replace Natalie Stewart of the musical duo Floetry, on tour. December of the same year, Seales released Life Experience the first EP of a trilogy.

After being released from the emergency room for a spinal tap, Seales continued to promote her sophomore EP, Spandex, Rhymes and Soul, which was released June 24, 2008. Amanda also provides social commentary and updates on her projects on her blog.

Seales has done commentaries for several VH1 specials. She is also featured on Johnny Polygon's 2010 mixtape Rebel Without Applause on two songs entitled "Blvd Broad" and "Get Right."