Shar Jackson

Jackson was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother is of mixed African-American and Puerto Rican heritage.^[3]

From 1996 to 2001, Jackson played the titular character's best friend, Niecy Jackson, on the UPN TV show Moesha (starring Brandy Norwood). The same year she played Carlene in the HBO film Grand Avenue. She has also appeared on The Parkers, The Bernie Mac Show, and My So-Called Life. In 1997, Jackson co-starred in the Nickelodeon movie Good Burger alongside Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson.

Jackson was a member of the short-lived pop girl group, Mpulz, where she was also a writer. The group's only single, "The Journey," was included on The Princess Diaries soundtrack.^[4]

She was also featured on the ABC reality series The Ex-Wives Club with Marla Maples and Angie Everhart. The show aimed to support people who had recently gone through separation or divorce. In 2009, Jackson was cast in the film I Do... I Did!. She also had a role in the 2009 dance-oriented film Steppin: The Movie.

Jackson later appeared on the seventh season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp, which premiered in February 2010. In 2016, Jackson and her daughter, Cassie, partook in the Lifetime reality series The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition.^[5] In 2023, she made her cameo in the Good Burger reboot, Good Burger 2.

Jackson has two other children, a son and a daughter, with her high-school ex-boyfriend.^[6] In 2004, Jackson was engaged to Kevin Federline, with whom she has a daughter and a son.^[7][8] The couple separated shortly before their son's birth, instigated by Federline's relationship with pop singer Britney Spears. Jackson sustained an amicable relationship with Federline, complimenting his parenting.^[9] In 2015, Jackson became a grandmother, as her elder daughter Cassalei welcomed a baby girl with actor Christopher Massey.^[10]