GOLDEN BROOKS: Over 'Girlfriends'?

By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

There's more to Golden Brooks than meets the eye.

For starters, the San Francisco native's strong acting prowess is evident with her portrayal of Maya Wilkes -- the ghetto-centric, loud-mouthed soul sister who shakes up the scene every week in the groundbreaking TV sitcom 'Girlfriends.'

Brooks, who has played the role since its inception eight years ago, is nothing like her screen persona, however.

Reared in Lagos, Nigeria, the thirty-something (more on age below) thespian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology with a minor in Theater from the University of California at Berkeley.

A classically trained dancer who is also a classically trained actress has performed all over the world and has taken on a broad variety of roles from Chekov to Shakespeare.

She holds a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College but maintains she did NOT attend the ritzy women's college during they heyday of other famous black sitcom actresses Robin Givens or Holly Robinson Peete.

"Chile, you know she's ten years older than me?," Brooks deadpans about Givens. "Yeah, she's older than me. But I went there way, way, way after her."

Well since she brought up the subject of age, I dare to ask what's hers.

"I'm 30," she states defiantly and then elaborates, "My IMDB is all wrong. I'm in the process of getting that changed. I had an old publicist a long time ago put that in the wrong year, but I'm 30 and I'll be turning 31 in December."

Well since we're in a joke-y mood, I join in on the fun and blurt out "The last time you saw 30, you were standing on 130th Street."

Unfazed, Brooks said "Thank you," then broke out into laughter and proclaimed, "That's hilarious."

"It's hard to say that in Hollywood," she continued the chatter. "Anything with a three in front of it, you're like 'hmmmmmmmmmm.'

The May 7 episode of the Kelsey Grammar-produced/Mara Brock Akil-created hit series represents a time for reflection of sorts for all involved. This particular one-hour long special edition has been earmarked as the final episode of 'Girlfriends.'

"I think 'Girlfriends' broke history on so many levels," Brooks said. "The only way we've lasted this long with no press, no promotion, no support from UPN, no support from CW and I will say this ... it's a very biased network and there's no denying that," she mandated. "But with that being said, we've gone against the odds because of the black press and the community and the audience and the fans. We're not on buses. We're not on billboards down every boulevard. So this is all word of mouth."

As bittersweet as it may seem, there may be another opportunity looming. There's been buzz that 'Girlfriends,' will be optioned to do a history-making eighth season.

Of that, Brooks nonchalantly offers, "We won't say anything as of yet. It may come back and it may not."

Hmmmm.

What about the idea of her character being spun off into its own series?

"I've been hearing a lot about a Maya and Darnell spin-off," she admitted. "I get a lot of fan mail about that but that's something that Mara Brock Akil and Kelsey Grammar and The CW and [Network chief] Dawn Ostroff are going to have to mull that over. And I don't think they're willing to do that. I'm not sure. But I would be open to doing to do something like that."

There's no denying that just like the Toni Childs character (exceptionally played by Jill Marie Jones for six seasons), Maya Wilkes is one of the most beloved among the African-American community.

"I think everybody can connect with Maya because she speaks for the common people," Brooks explained. "She speaks for all the people who are going to vote for Barack Obama, who voted for Clinton. She's the person who cuts out coupons. She's the person worried about turning the lights off when she leaves. She's the person who is God fearing and go to church every Sunday. She speaks for the community. She speaks for society. She's not a caricature.

"The other characters are a bit more extravagant and a bit more far-fetched, they're not that relatable," she continued. "Tracee [Ellis Ross], Persia [White] and even Jill [Marie Jones] are great actresses, and you know people like that, but I think what makes Maya a character that people really, really love, I think, is because everyone can say 'That's me. That's how I live my life.'"

Brooks revealed that originally she was asked to play the Toni role, but declined.

"I didn't want to play the Toni character because my thing as an actress is I don't want to go to work and play an extension of me and then not do the work," she said. "I really want to go to work and have to really work, I want to act."

Well her acting has taken her to a level of recognition that could be enviable by her peers.

Since joining 'Girlfriends,' the NAACP Image Award nominated beauty has appeared alongside Sanaa Lathan and Alfre Woodard in 'Something New,' and with Queen Latifah in 'Beauty Shop.'

'Time' magazine cited her as one of "the most watchable women in the world."

"As an actress, sometimes you're put in a genre that you may not always see yourself and you make the most of it, and you do the best that you can with what you're given," she added. "Where I'm from and what I'm about ... I'm proud of all the layers and the textures of where I come from but at the same time you have to be accessible to people. You still have to be that girl, where people can say 'Oh yeah, I know someone like Golden. I grew up with someone like Golden.' They think it's important to always stay accessible to the community no matter how much education you have or how little education you have."

Next up for Brooks is a lead role in the forthcoming independent feature 'A Good Man is Hard to Find,' which is expected to be distributed by CodeBlack Entertainment/Fox Faith later this year.

"It's kinda like one of those things that you wait your whole life as an actress --not that I'm old, old, old and I've done a lot of work," she shared about the Leslie Small-directed property about three women struggling with love and relationships. "When I read 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find,' I thought 'Wow.'

"I just worked with a beautiful group of actors and I was really, really proud of the cast and of my work."