Quinta Brunson is an American actress, director and writer who started her career making comedy skits and viral moments as a video producer for BuzzFeed. Before joining Buzzfeed, she was known for doing impersonations. Speaking with Glamour recently, she recalled doing impressions for her siblings at the age of 3.
“Yeah, my brothers and sisters—they really liked to watch me imitate characters from their favorite shows. I don’t think I realized that I was doing impressions; it would just be like, ‘Quinta, say this.’ And then I would say it, and I really enjoyed making them laugh,” Brunson stated.
Her passion for comedy was driven by her desire to make people laugh as it brought her so much joy and connected her to her siblings. “I came so much later than them, so I think to them that was the value in me. Because they thought my mom was done, and then here I come and it was like, ‘Ugh’,” she noted.
For Brunson, her closeness to her family and the diverse nature of her Philadelphia community were key to her success as it made it easy for her to tap into other cultures.
“And I think with Philadelphia being a city that’s not as big as New York, it feels more communal. It feels more like the city is one big messed-up family, but one big family. I feel like all of that lent itself to me being able to get through this industry because another thing about Philly: It’s a big underdog city, and we like it that way,” Brunson declared to the outlet. “And I feel that way about myself in this industry. It’s like, ‘I know that I’m good. I’m not really proving that part; I’m just…”’
From her Instagram series “The Girl Who’s Never Been on a Nice Date”, her current level of celebrity is a direct result of her decision to leave BuzzFeed and follow her passion for writing, producing, and starring in original content.
After leaving BuzzFeed, Brunson went on to star in “A Black Lady Sketch Show” on HBO and provided the voice for a recurrent character on “Big Mouth” on Netflix. But the premiere of “Abbott Elementary” on ABC in 2021 would be the 34-year-old’s biggest break.
This year, the creator and star of “Abbott Elementary” won an Emmy for best actress in a comedy series for her role in the series, becoming the first Black actress to win the category since 1981 when “The Jeffersons” star Isabel Sanford won.
Today, she is reportedly worth an estimated $3 million and her current status was only something she could dream about years ago.
“It’s weird how I was like, ‘I’ll probably live in apartments for the rest of my life,’” Brunson told Rolling Stone. “I never thought I’d have a house. Isn’t that crazy?”
