Who is Cynthia Blaise? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Age: 66 Years, 66 Year Old Females

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Keegan-Michael Key (m. 1998–2017)

Actresses American Women

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Childhood & Early Life

Cynthia Blaise was born in 1958 in the United States of America. Little to no information is available on her family and upbringing. Even when she was a child, she harboured a deep interest in the performing arts. After reaching young adulthood, she decided to do something with her life that would turn her passion into her profession. She subsequently enrolled at the University of Oregon, pursuing a B.A. degree in theatre. After graduating, she began attending the University of California from where she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in acting.

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Career

Blaise started her acting career in ‘Star Trek V: The Final Frontier’ (1996), portraying a character named Amanda. She subsequently played a teacher in ‘Timequest’, a 2000 science fiction film directed by Robert Dyke. Between 2012 and 2015, she appeared in several episodes of her husband’s Comedy Central show, ‘Key and Peele’. She also worked with Key in his 2010 comedy sketch, ‘Meditations of Yoga: Ode to a Cougar’, playing the titular character. In 2016, she lent her voice to a character credited as the puppet maker in one episode of Adult Swim’s stop motion sketch comedy ‘Robot Chicken’.

In 1996, Blaise was involved in her first project as a dialect coach. The film was Lee David Zlotoff’s drama film ‘The Spitfire Grill’ and she was ultimately uncredited for her contribution. However, she did get credit for her next work, the 1998 comedy drama ‘Polish Wedding’. In 2000, she worked as a dialect coach on her film ‘Timequest’

In 2001, she served as the additional voice coach on the Hilary Swank-starrer ‘The Affair of the Necklace’. In the following year, she worked in the Oscar-winning musical drama ‘8 Mile’. Her first TV stint came about in 2004 when she served as a dialect coach on the telefilm ‘Iron Jawed Angels’. In the subsequent two years, she got the chance to work with the likes of Chris North on the telefilm ‘Bad Apple’, Johnny Knoxville and Elizabeth Banks on the musical comedy ‘Daltry Calhoun’, Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek on the action-comedy ‘Bandidas’, Johnathon Schaech and Sendi Bar on the fantasy-drama ‘Sea of Dreams’, and Li Gong on the crime-thriller ‘Miami Vice’.

In 2006, she was part of the crew of Fox’s short-lived legal-drama ‘Justice’. In 2009, she joined the production staff of ABC’s legal-drama ‘Eli Stone’ for one episode. She worked with Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the 2010 mystery-horror ‘6 Souls’. That year, she also served on the Dwayne Johnson-starrer ‘Faster’. In 2011, she was part of the crew of romantic comedy ‘Bad Teacher’. Two years later, she worked in the thriller-drama ‘The Truth about Emanuel’. In recent years, she has been associated with the telefilm ‘Beautiful & Twisted’ (2015), action adventure film ‘Hardcore Henry (2015), and comedy-drama ‘The Tiger Hunter.’

Relationship with Keegan-Michael Key

Blaise and Key became acquainted while they were both associated with the Detroit Repertory Theatre. They got married on December 27, 1998, but do not have any child together. In the early years of their marriage, she reportedly provided financial support to her husband, who was still a struggling comedian. However, they began having marital problems sometime in the mid-2010s. In November 2015, they began living in separate places. They did not even go to the 2015 Emmy Awards together. On New Year’s Eve, Key filed for divorce, which was finalised on November 16, 2017.

Key had begun dating actor and director Elisa Pugliese after he filed for divorce from Blaise. On November 14, 2017, two days prior to the conclusion of his divorce proceeding, Key announced the news of his engagement to Pugliese on Twitter. However, Blaise did not take the breakup well. She reportedly suffered weight and hair loss, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and serious depression. She even had to quit work due to severe anxiety and was taking several medications.

In their divorce settlement, Key was told to pay $655,000 to Blaise. He was also instructed to pay her $34,000 as spousal support and an additional 21% of his gross income on anything he earns above $2.153 million per year. Furthermore, she got a vacation home in Mexico and her Subaru Crosstrek in the settlement.

Trivia

Blaise is 14 years older than her former husband!

Cynthia Blaise Biography