Karamo Brown

Karamo Brown was born in Houston, Texas. Brown grew up in Florida, and attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, from which he graduated in 1999. After the mass shooting that occurred at the school in February 2018, he became a vocal advocate for gun safety laws. Brown attended Florida A&M University, and began his television career as a contestant on "The Real World: Philadelphia" (MTV, 2004-05). He was the first out gay black man on reality television, and he followed up his time on the show with the crossover/spin-off series "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno II" (MTV, 2005). After his brief time as a reality TV star, Brown was a social worker for about a decade. During this time, Brown discovered he was the father of a ten year old son. Although he had come out as gay at age 16, Brown had had a relationship with his last girlfriend at age 15. She had become pregnant without his knowledge, and had moved and severed the relationship without telling him about the child. In 2007, he learned of his son Jason and received custody of him. In 2010, he also adopted Jason's half-brother, Chris, in order to keep the brothers together. Brown returned to show business with a recurring role on the web series "Where the Bears Are" (2012-) in 2013, then served as a host/panelist/correspondent on "Dr. Drew on Call" (2011-16) from 2014 through 2016. He hosted and produced for The Huffington Post's "HuffPost Live" internet streaming network in 2015, hosted a series of episodes for "Access Hollywood Live" in 2016, was featured in a group of former reality TV stars in the series "The Next :15" (TV One, 2016), and hosted the reality series "Are You the One: Second Chances" (MTV, 2017). Brown received mass media and viral attention as part of the cast of the "Queer Eye" reboot (Netflix, 2018), a reality series that sees five gay men make over a straight man. Each has a particular specialty, including food, fashion, design, grooming, and Brown's expertise, culture. The show received widespread praise and popularity, with much of the show's fans pointing out the heartwarming messages the series imparts. Brown became engaged to his partner of eight years, director Ian Jordan, in 2018. Brown also had a history of activism, cofounding 6in10.org to combat HIV stigmas and educate the black LGBT community, volunteering as a youth counselor at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and petitioning legislators with the Creative Coalition for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.