Gabrielle Union is an actress, producer, best-selling author, and Time100 cover honoree. Union is currently producing “The Idea of You” for Amazon Prime Video, starring Anne Hathaway. Union can next be seen starring alongside Octavia Spencer in Season 3 of Apple TV+’s “Truth Be Told”, streaming weekly beginning January 20, 2023.
Most recently, Union starred in the A24 drama THE INSPECTION, opposite Jeremy Pope, which premiered to acclaim at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival ahead of its theatrical release on November 18, 2022. For her supporting role as Inez French, she was nominated for a Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards. Union is also featured in the Walt Disney Pictures animated film STRANGE WORLD, released in 2022.
In 2021, Gabrielle released her children’s book, “Shady Baby”, with her husband Dwyane Wade. The follow up “Shady Baby Feels” will be released in August 2022. Union’s autobiographical books, “We’re Going To Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated and True,” and “You Got Anything Stronger?” both became New York Times best sellers.
In 2018, Union formed her production company I’ll Have Another, with the goal of telling authentic stories that feature the point of views of marginalized communities. I’ll Have Another develops broadcast, cable, and streaming series for television, as well as feature films.
Union pioneers businesses centered around inclusion, accessibility, and affordability. In 2020, she launched her haircare brand “Flawless by Gabrielle Union” and in 2021, Union and her husband co-founded PROUDLY, a baby care brand specially formulated to meet the unique needs of Black and brown babies and their extra-special skin. She is also a co-founder of the healthy children’s snack brand Bitsy’s.
Union’s film and TV highlights include CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, THINK LIKE A MAN, BAD BOYS II, DELIVER US FROM EVA, LOVE & BASKETBALL, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, SHE’S ALL THAT, BRING IT ON, along with “Being Mary Jane” and “LA’s Finest”.
As a three-time NBA Champion, Olympic Gold medalist and thirteen-time NBA All-Star, Dwyane Wade has experienced a whirlwind career.
Wade joined the Miami HEAT as the fifth pick of the 2003 NBA Draft. In his first season, the Chicago-area native who also flashed his athletic brilliance for Marquette University, achieved NBA All-Rookie Team status. In 2006, Wade led his team to the city’s first ever NBA Championship. Wade represented the United States in the 2004 Athens Summer Games and brought home the GOLD representing the USA in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In 2012 and 2013, Wade won his second and third NBA Championships. He rejoined the Miami HEAT in February
2018 after playing with the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers. During the 2018-19 season, he became the third player in NBA history to record at least 20,000 points, 5,000 assists, 4,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals, 800 blocks and 500 three-pointers. He was also recognized for achieving the most blocked shots than any guard in NBA history. In 2020, the Miami HEAT retired Wade’s number three jersey and Northeast 7th Street at Biscayne Boulevard, outside the HEAT arena, was officially designated Dwyane Wade Boulevard. Wade was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
Wade officially retired from the NBA after sixteen years following his 2018-19 season. His #OneLastDance farewell tour included jersey exchanges, gifts, and tributes. Wade partnered with Bleacher Report on a D. Wade World Tour apparel series to celebrate the final season of his career and ay tribute to his influence on and off the court.
Wade is readily recognized as a style icon and for paving the way for the NBA fashion revolution. He launched his annual A Night on the RunWade event in 2012 to celebrate his passion for fashion. Wade was selected as an ambassador for the first Men’s Fashion Week in New York City in 2015. In 2017, he collaborated with DSquared2 on a capsule collection for Saks and was the first athlete to partner with Amazon Fashion to create a brand Wade store. He recently joined the latest Versace Eyewear campaign.
Wade’s business partnerships include Li-Ning, MISSION, Budweiser Zero, Stance, BallerTV, Wade Cellars, and Jeeter.
Wade and Gabrielle Union co-founded Proudly, a sustainable baby care brand made specifically for babies and children of color. PROUDLY is now available at Target stores nationwide and Proudly.com.
In 2018, Wade signed a landmark lifetime deal with Li-Ning to continue to grow his Way of Wade basketball and lifestyle brand. There are currently eleven Wade retail stores across China. He serves as a global ambassador for Li-Ning, and travels to China annually to host the Way of Wade tour. Since the release of Wade’s signature basketball shoes Way of Wade, now in its tenth iteration, WOW has transcended beyond the court. In 2019, he signed NBA player D’Angelo Russell as his first signature athlete to the Way of Wade brand.
Wade’s wine partnership, Wade Cellars, features a Wade Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and Three by Wade, which includes a cabernet sauvignon, California rosé and a chenin blanc. In 2021, Wade joined the UC Davis Executive Leadership Board for the department of Viticulture and Enology to support their efforts in bringing more diversity to the wine industry.
Launched in 2020, Budweiser’s first zero alcohol beer, Budweiser Zero, with zero-sugar is developed and co-founded in partnership with Wade.
Wade is a global partner of 800° Woodfired Kitchen. Forty-Three is a joint company created by Wade and his former Miami HEAT teammate Udonis Haslem. The company is named after their respective jersey numbers.
Through his production company, 59th & Prairie Entertainment, Wade served as an executive producer of the Sports Emmy-nominated documentary, Shot in the Dark, for FOX Sports with Chance the Rapper. 59th and Prairie partnered with Imagine Documentaries and ESPN on D. Wade: Life Unexpected, a documentary chronicling Wade’s NBA career and life off the court during his final year in the league. He executive produced A Most Beautiful Thing, chronicling the first African American public high school rowing team in the United States, and Legacy: In The Shadow of Greatness, a docuseries following the athletic pursuits of the children of sports icons. He produced the Oscar-winning animated short film Hair Love. Recently, he executive-produced Netflix’s The Redeem Team, the story of the U.S. men’s basketball team seeking redemption as they pursue Gold at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Wade previously served as an analyst on TNT’s NBA event coverage and as a regular analyst for the network’s Tuesday night studio coverage alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Candace Parker. In partnership with WarnerMedia, Wade executive produces and hosts the award-winning British game show reboot of The Cube on TBS in the U.S.
In 2021 and 2022, Wade joined the Utah Jazz and Real Salt Lake ownership groups.
In 2015, Wade completed the Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports program at Harvard University. His approach to brand partnerships in a Harvard Business School case study called Dwyane Wade is taught in both the MBA and Executive Education Programs. In 2018, he was appointed as an Executive Fellow. In 2022, Wade received his honorary doctorate degree from Marquette University.
In 2019, he was named to The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees.
Wade’s proudest accomplishment is being a father. In March 2011, in a landmark legal decision, he earned sole custody of his sons, effectively setting a new precedent for professional male athletes. In September 2012, Wade became a New York Times bestselling author with the release of his first book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger than Basketball. Wade and Gabrielle Union have co-authored the New York Times bestselling children’s book, Shady Baby, which is based on their daughter Kaavia James. Wade’s new photographic memoir, DWYANE, takes readers inside Wade’s life and career with a wealth of never-before-told stories and more than 200 beautiful color photographs from Bob Metelus documenting Wade’s journey.
Wade recognizes his true accomplishments go far beyond the basketball court. The Wade Family Foundation provides relief to marginalized communities in need. He uses his platform to help advance racial justice and LGBTQ equality. In recognition of his social activism, he was featured on the 2020 TIME100 list, TIME’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and as one of the special covers of the issue celebrating the list.
He co-founded the Social Change Fund United with Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony to invest in and support organizations focused on empowering communities of color and advocating for the human rights of all Black lives.
In 2016, he launched his Spotlight On initiative after the loss of his cousin to gun violence in Chicago. The initiative aims to give youth hope for a better future by shining a spotlight on youth in the community who are actively changing the city for the better and are empowering others to make change happen. He continued his activism against gun violence and brought awareness to the need for stronger gun control laws by supporting the Parkland students through March for Our Lives and launching a Parkland 17 art exhibit at Florida Art Walk to honor the seventeen lives lost.
Wade received the NBA’s 2012-2013 Community Assist Award in recognition of his efforts in the community and his philanthropic work. In 2015, he was inducted into the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Sports Hall of Champions. In 2017, Wade was awarded the Mannie Jackson Human Spirit Award. He was honored with the Legend Award at the 2019 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Sports Awards.
Wade lives with his family in Los Angeles, CA.