Megalyn Echikunwoke

Ebubennem Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke (/ˈmɛɡəlɪn ɛˌtʃɪkʊnˈwoʊkeɪ/ MEG-ə-lin eh-CHIK-uun-WOH-kay;[1] born May 28, 1983[2][3]), also known as Megalyn E.K.,[4] is an American actress, known primarily for her roles in television and film.

Megalyn Echikunwoke
Echikunwoke in 2016
Born	Ebubennem Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke (1983-05-28) May 28, 1983 Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Other names	Megalyn E.K.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998–present

Born in Spokane, Washington, Echikunwoke was discovered while performing in a theatrical production for an arts academy, and began working professionally at age 15, appearing in an episode of The Steve Harvey Show. Between 2001 and 2002, she starred as Nicole Palmer, daughter of David Palmer, on the Fox series 24, followed by guest roles on ER and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Between 2004 and 2005, she portrayed Angie Barnett, the half-sister of Steven Hyde, on the sitcom That '70s Show. In 2006, Echikunwoke starred as a lead in the series The 4400 which ran until 2007, followed by recurring roles on 90210 and House of Lies.

Her film roles in the early 2010s include Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress (2011), and the action sequel A Good Day to Die Hard (2013). In 2016, she portrayed Mari McCabe / Vixen in the Arrowverse. The following year, Echikunwoke had a supporting role in CHiPs (2017), followed by the independent comedy An Actor Prepares (2018). Next, she co-starred in the comedy Night School (2018). In late 2018, Echikunwoke made her New York stage debut in an off-Broadway production of Apologia.

Life and career

1983–1997: Early life

Ebubennem Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke[5][6] was born in Spokane, Washington,[2] to Onigwe Echikunwoke, an Igbo Nigerian father, and Anita Laurie, an American of European descent.[2] Her father, an immigrant to the United States, was a survivor of the Nigerian Civil War, during which he suffered gunshot wounds that resulted in him contracting hepatitis B.[6]

When Echikunwoke was four years old, her father, then studying for a law degree in Spokane, died of liver cancer stemming from the gunshot wounds he had sustained as a child.[6] Her mother subsequently raised Echikunwoke and her siblings on the Navajo Indian reservation in Chinle, Arizona.[2][7] At age 14, Echikunwoke was discovered while performing in a theater production at an arts academy summer camp.[2]

1998–2015: Television and film

Echikunwoke in 2009

Echikunwoke's first featured role was a guest appearance on The Steve Harvey Show in 1998.[2] The following year, she had her first film role in Julie Dash's Funny Valentines.[8] In 2001, Echikunwoke starred in a lead role on the MTV soap opera, Spyder Games, as Cherish Pardee, a coffee house singer, which ran through the year.[2] She subsequently had a recurring role in the first season of 24 (2001–2002) as David Palmer's daughter, Nicole.[2] Beginning 2003, she appeared as Danika on the comedy series Like Family,[2] and guest-starred on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appearing in the episode "The Killer in Me" (2003).[2] This was followed with a guest role on Veronica Mars in 2004.[2]

Between 2004 and 2005, Echikunwoke appeared on Fox's That '70s Show as Steven Hyde's half-sister, Angie Barnett.[2] In 2006, she was cast as a series regular on the science fiction television series The 4400, as the adult version of the mysterious Isabelle Tyler.[2] Echikunwoke left the show in 2007. From 2008 to 2009, she appeared in season 7 of CSI: Miami, Echikunwoke joined the cast as the new medical examiner, Dr. Tara Price.[2] She had a recurring role on TNT's Raising the Bar (2008–2009) where she played the love interest of attorney Marcus McGrath, played by J. August Richards.[9] Also in 2008, Echikunwoke appeared as a singer in the Leonard Chess biopic Who Do You Love?.[10] In 2011, Echikunwoke played Holly in the fourth season of 90210,[11] and subsequently appeared in the comedy film Damsels in Distress.[12]

She played April on Showtime's House of Lies (2012) and Riley Parker in the legal drama Made in Jersey (also 2012) on CBS.[13] In 2014, she co-starred in the drama series Mind Games on ABC.

2016–present: Film and theater

In 2016, Echikunwoke appeared on the CW's Arrow as the DC Comics superhero Mari McCabe / Vixen for an episode, as well as providing her voice for the character in the CW Seed animated series Vixen. Due to prior commitments, she was unavailable to play the character in Legends of Tomorrow, resulting in the introduction of a new Vixen played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers, who is the time-displaced grandmother of Echikunwoke's character. Echikunwoke had a supporting role in Dax Shepard's CHiPs (2017), followed by the comedy An Actor Prepares (2018). The same year, Echikunwoke had a supporting role in the comedy Night School, which grossed over $100 million.[14]

She played the role of Claire in the off-Broadway production of Apologia for the Roundabout Theatre Company.[15] The play ran from October 16, 2018, to December 16, 2018.[15] In 2019, she had a supporting role in Late Night.[8] She was subsequently cast in a main role on Almost Family, a drama series on Fox chronicling three women who find they are siblings after a prominent fertility doctor reveals he has used his own sperm to father over 100 children with his patients.[16] The series was cancelled after one season.[17]

Political activism

In 2007, Echikunwoke, Justin Long, Olivia Wilde, and Kal Penn campaigned for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. This included a winter tour of college campuses and bars in Iowa, known as the All-Actor All-Iowa All-Star Voter Education Tour, to register new college-age voters prior to the 2008 election.[18][19]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1999	Funny Valentines	Lauren		[8]
2002	B.S.	Shannon Cross	Television film	[2]
2004	Great Lengths	Elena	Short film	[2]
2005	Hitched	Christina	Television film	[2]
2006	Camjackers	Sista Strada Cast		[8]
2008	Fix	Carmen		[8]
2008	Who Do You Love?	Ivy Mills		[8]
2011	Damsels in Distress	Rose		[8]
2011	Free Hugs	Megan	Short film
2012	Beautiful People	Monica	Television film
2013	A Good Day to Die Hard	Pretty Reporter		[8]
2014	Electric Slide	Jean
2014	Night Swim	Eve	Short film
2015	The Meddler	Elise		[8]
2017	CHiPs	Patricia Eerly		[8]
2018	Step Sisters	Jamilah		[8]
2018	An Actor Prepares	Clementine		[8]
2018	Night School	Lisa King		[8]
2019	Late Night	Robin		[8]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1998	Creature	Elizabeth Gibson	Miniseries
1998	The Steve Harvey Show	Allison Hightower	Episode: "Uncle Steve"
2000	Malibu, CA	Randy	Episode: "Three Dudes and a Baby"
2001	Spyder Games	Cherish Pardee	65 episodes	[5]
2001–2002	24	Nicole Palmer	6 episodes	[5]
2002	Sheena	Janel	Episode: "Coming to Africa"	[5]
2002	ER	Terry Welch	Episode: "Bygones"
2002	For the People	Claudia Gibson	2 episodes	[5]
2002	What I Like About You	Karen	Episode: "The Parrot Trap"
2003	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Vaughne	Episode: "The Killer in Me"	[2]
2003–2004	Like Family	Danika Ward	22 episodes	[5]
2004	Veronica Mars	Rain	Episode: "Drinking the Kool-Aid"	[5]
2004–2005	That '70s Show	Angie Barnett	8 episodes	[5]
2006	Supernatural	Cassie Robinson	Episode: "Route 666"	[5]
2006–2007	The 4400	Isabelle Tyler	Main role	[5]
2008	The Game	Cheyenne	Episode: "Take These Vows and Shove 'Em!"	[5]
2008–2009	CSI: Miami	Tara Price	24 episodes	[5]
2009	Raising the Bar	Amelia Mkali	3 episodes	[5]
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Nicole Gleason	Episode: "Anchor"
2011–2012	90210	Holly Strickler	Recurring role
2012	House of Lies	April	Recurring role
2012	Made in Jersey	Riley Parker	Main role
2014	American Dad!	Angie (voice)	Episode: "Introducing the Naughty Stewardess"
2014	Mind Games	Megan Shane	Main role	[5]
2015	The Following	Penny	4 episodes	[5]
2016	Arrow	Mari McCabe / Vixen	Episode: "Taken"
2016	Damien	Simone Baptiste	Main role
2017	Ghosted	Natalie	Episode: "Whispers"
2017	White Famous	Sadie	4 episodes	[5]
2019–2020	Almost Family	Edie Palmer	Main role	[5]

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2015–2016	Vixen	Mari McCabe / Vixen	Lead role (voice)	[20]
2018	Freedom Fighters: The Ray	Mari McCabe / Vixen	Voice	[21]

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2017	Injustice 2	Mari McCabe / Vixen	Voice
2018	Lego DC Super-Villains	Mari McCabe / Vixen	Voice
2019	Mortal Kombat 11	Jacqui Briggs	Voice
2019	Heroes of the Storm	Qhira	Voice

Stage credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2018	Apologia	Claire	Roundabout Theatre Company	[15]

References

1. "EP 40: Megalyn Echikunwoke AKA "We Stand with..."". Let's Talk About Me, Baby with Utkarsh Ambudkar. December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
2. McCann, Bob (2009). Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-7864-5804-2.
3. "Megalyn Echikunwoke". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
4. Damore, Meagan (February 24, 2016). ""Arrow's" Megalyn E.K. Calls Her Role as Vixen a 'Dream Come True'". CBR. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
5. "Megalyn Echikunwoke Credits". TV Guide. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
6. Echikunwoke, Megalyn (May 1, 2017). "On the brink of famine in the place my father called home". Oxfam America. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
7. Aminu, Abdulkareem Baba (August 29, 2006). "Nigeria: Megalyn Echikunwoke – Mega-Talent Doing Nigeria Proud!". AllAfrica. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
8. "Megalyn Echikunwoke". AllMovie. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
9. "CSI: Miami Doctor Is Out... and Hitting the Bar?". TV Guide. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
10. Whitty, Stephen (April 9, 2010). "Blues film down on its luck". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. G2 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Ausiello, Michael (July 6, 2011). "90210 Exclusive: Newcomer Justin Deeley Cast as... Brad Pitt?". TVLine. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
12. Rodriguez, Rene (May 3, 2012). "'Damsels in Distress' worth saving time to see". The Akron Beacon Journal. Akron, Ohio. p. F7 – via Newspapers.com.
13. Roots, Kimberly. "Fall TV Exclusive: CBS' Made in Jersey Casts 90210 's Megalyn Echikunwoke," TVLine, Wednesday, July 18, 2012.
14. "Night School (2018)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
15. Vine, Hannah (October 12, 2018). "Stockard Channing and Hugh Dancy Take the Stage in Apologia Off-Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
16. Gay, Verne (October 1, 2019). "'Almost Family': Story of a fertility doc was almost a good idea". Newsday. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
17. Thorne, Will (March 2, 2020). "'Almost Family' Canceled After One Season at Fox". Variety. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
18. The All-Actor All-Iowa All-Star Voter Education Tour on YouTube Retrieved December 28, 2013.
19. Chaudhary, Arun (August 21, 2012). First Cameraman: Documenting the Obama Presidency in Real Time. Henry Holt and Company. pp. 130–. ISBN 978-0-8050-9573-9.
20. "Megalyn Echikunwoke To Voice Vixen In CW Seed Animated Series". www.ksitetv.com.
21. "CW Seed Offers A Ray of Hope with 'Freedom Fighters: The Ray'".

External links

• Media related to Megalyn Echikunwoke at Wikimedia Commons
• Megalyn Echikunwoke on IMDb