Teyonah Parris

Teyonah Parris (born September 22, 1987) is an American actress. She began her career playing a recurring role as Dawn Chambers in the AMC drama series, Mad Men (2012–15). In 2015, Parris starred in the satirical drama film Chi-Raq directed by Spike Lee.

Teyonah Parris
Parris at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	(1987-09-22) September 22, 1987 Hopkins, South Carolina, U.S.
Education	Juilliard School (BFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2010–present

Life and career

Parris was born and raised in Hopkins, South Carolina. She was accepted into the prestigious South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities where she finished 11th and 12th grade, before attending and graduating from the Juilliard School.[1] She made her television debut in 2010, with guest starring role on The Good Wife. In 2012, she was cast in a recurring role as Dawn Chambers in the AMC drama series, Mad Men.[2] She played the first major African American character on Mad Men.[3]

In 2014, Parris had her breakthrough role in the independent film Dear White People.[1][4] Later in that year, Parris began starring in the Starz comedy series, Survivor's Remorse.[5][6][7] In 2015, Parris went to star in the satirical drama film Chi-Raq directed by Spike Lee.[8] She received her first NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture nomination for this film.[9] She played the leading role in Where Children Play directed by Leila Djansi, and starred alongside David Oyelowo in Five Nights in Maine.[10][11] Later in 2015, she played R&B/Jazz singer Miki Howard in the biopic The Miki Howard Story.[12]

In 2016, Parris was cast as lead character in the period drama film Buffalo Soldier Girl about a woman who, disguised as a man, enlisted and fought with the African American Post Civil War era as a Buffalo Soldier.[13] In 2017, she had a recurring role on the Fox prime time soap opera Empire playing Detective Pamela Rose.[14] In early 2018, Parris was cast in a leading role on the CBS drama pilot Murder.[15] Also that year, she co-starred in If Beale Street Could Talk, a drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins.[16] Parris will be playing the adult version of Monica Rambeau from the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain Marvel in the Disney+ upcoming series WandaVision.[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Empire Corner	Alma	Short film
2010	Wu is Dead	Alma	Short film
2010	How Do You Know	Riva
2013	A Picture of You	Mika
2014	They Came Together	Wanda
2014	Dear White People	Collandrea "Coco" Conners
2015	Five Nights in Maine	Penelope
2015	Where Children Play	Bellissima Mccain
2015	Chi-Raq	Lysistrata	African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Actress Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
2016	90 Days	Jessica	Short film Hollywood Film Festival Jury Prize for Exceptional Emerging Artist Acting
2018	If Beale Street Could Talk	Ernestine Rivers
2019	Point Blank	Taryn
2020	Charm City Kings	Terri
2020	The Photograph	Asia
2020	Candyman	Brianna Cartwright	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	The Good Wife	Melinda Gossett	Episode: "Double Jeopardy"
2012–2015	Mad Men	Dawn Chambers	Recurring role, 22 episodes Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2013	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Karen Branston	Episode: "Take the Money and Run"
2014–2017	Survivor's Remorse	Missy Vaughn	Series regular, 36 episodes
2016	Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story	Miki Howard	Also producer Nominated — Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series Nominated — Black Reel Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series
2017	Empire	Detective Pamela Rose	Recurring role, 6 episodes
2018	Murder	Det. Ayana Lake	Pilot
2020	WandaVision	Monica Rambeau	Post-production

References

1. "'Mad Men' secretary lands a new job with 'Dear White People'". New York Post. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
2. "Q&A – Teyonah Parris (Dawn)". amc.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
3. "Mad Men: Teyonah Parris Becomes First African American In Mad Men Office". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
4. A. O. SCOTT. "Advanced Course in Diversity:'Dear White People,' About Racial Hypocrisy at a College". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
5. Tiggett, Jai (23 October 2014). "Interview: Teyonah Parris Tells S&A About Color on TV, Be - Shadow and Act". Shadow and Act. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
6. "Teyonah Parris on Survivor's Remorse and Mad Men -- Vulture". Vulture. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
7. Goldberg, Lesley. "'Mad Men' Alum Boards Starz's LeBron James Comedy (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
8. Los Angeles Times (2 December 2015). "Teyonah Parris hopes to 'inspire change' with her role in Spike Lee's 'Chi-Raq'". latimes.com. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
9. Hipes, Patrick. "NAACP Image Award Nominations 2015 — Full List - Deadline". Deadline. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
10. Tambay A. Obenson (20 July 2015). "Trailer: Teyonah Parris Toplines Leila Djansi's 'Where Ch - Shadow and Act". Shadow and Act. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
11. Barker, Andrew. "'Five Nights in Maine' Review: David Oyelowo, Dianne Wiest Mourn a Death in the Family - Variety". Variety. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
12. Tambay A. Obenson (21 December 2015). "Teyonah Parris Stars in TV One's Original Movie on Life o - Shadow and Act". Shadow and Act. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
13. Busch, Anita. "Teyonah Parris In Talks To Star In 'Buffalo Soldier Girl'". Deadline. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
14. N'Duka, Amanda (27 September 2017). "'Empire': Teyonah Parris To Recur In Season 4 Of Fox Series". Retrieved 4 March 2018.
15. Otterson, Joe (5 February 2018). "Teyonah Parris to Star in CBS Pilot 'Murder'". Retrieved 4 March 2018.
16. "Teyonah Parris in Talks to Join Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" Follow-Up "If Beale Street Could Talk" (Exclusive)". 25 September 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
17. Nolan, L.D. (July 20, 2019). "WandaVision Casts Mad Men Alum As Its Adult Monica Rambeau". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.

External links

• Teyonah Parris on IMDb