Amirah Charline Vann (born June 24, 1980) is an American actress and singer. She began her career on the Off-Broadway stage before starring in the

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

period drama series, '' Underground'' (2016–2017), for which she received

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

nomination. She later starred as attorney Tegan Price in the ABC legal thriller series, ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal drama thriller television series that premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk and pro ...

'' (2017–2020). In 2022, Vann starred in the period romantic drama film, ''

A Jazzman's Blues ''A Jazzman's Blues'' is a 2022 American drama film written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry. The film stars Joshua Boone, Amirah Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Austin Scott, Brent Antonello, and Ryan Eggold. ''A Jazzman's Blues'' premiered at the ...

''.

Life and career

Amirah Charline Vann was born on June 24, 1980, in

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. Her father is

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and her mother is Puerto Rican. Vann attended

Midwood High School Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ioni ...

and then

Far Rockaway High School Far Rockaway High School was a public high school in New York City, at 821 Bay 25th Street in Far Rockaway in the borough of Queens. It operated from 1897 to 2011. Its alumni include three Nobel Prize laureates and convicted fraudster Bernard ...

, graduating in 1998. She then obtained her bachelor's degree from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in 2002, and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

in 2007. Vann worked for many years in

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

theater before transitioning to film and television. Vann appeared in secondary roles in films, including '' And So It Goes'' and '' Tracers'', before her breakthrough performance as Ernestine, the head house slave of the Macon plantation, in the

period drama series '' Underground'' in 2016. At the

48th NAACP Image Awards The 48th NAACP Image Awards, presented by the NAACP, honored outstanding representations and achievements of people of color in motion pictures, television, music and literature during the 2016 calendar year. The 48th ceremony was hosted by Antho ...

, Vann received

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nb ...

nomination for her performance. The series was canceled after two seasons in 2017. She later guest starred on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', and had a recurring role on the final season of '' Major Crimes'' as Special Agent Jazzma Fey. During the 2017–18 season, Vann was cast as attorney Tegan Price on the ABC legal drama ''

''. A recurring role, Vann was promoted to series regular for season five and season six. In early 2018, Vann also went to star on the ABC drama pilot ''The Holmes Sisters'' produced by

Regina King Regina Rene King (born January 15, 1971) is an American actress, director and producer. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, ''Time'' magazine named her o ...

and Robin Roberts. Later that year, Vann also had a recurring role on the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

limited series '' Unsolved: The Murder of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.'' as an FBI agent assigned to the multi-agency taskforce assigned to the Christopher Wallace murder investigation. In 2019, Vann was cast as corporate lobbyist Parker Campbell in season four of the OWN drama ''

Queen Sugar ''Queen Sugar'' is an American drama television series created and executive produced by Ava DuVernay, with Oprah Winfrey serving as an executive producer. DuVernay also directed the first two episodes. The series is based on the 2014 novel o ...

''. She also had a supporting role in the 2019 drama film, ''

Miss Virginia The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing Virginia in the Miss America pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represente ...

''. In 2020 she guest-starred in the

CBS All Access Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily ...

series, '' Star Trek: Picard''. In 2022, Vann starred in the period romantic drama film, ''

'' playing the role of singer Hattie Mae, mother of lead (played by Joshua Boone). The role originally was written for

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

. Vann received positive reviews for her performance. The following year she had a recurring role in the AppleTV horror series, '' The Changeling''. She played actress

Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll ( ; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. Carroll was the recipient of numerous nominations and awards for her stage and screen performances, incl ...

in the biographical drama film '' Shirley'' about American politician

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional dist ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Amirah Vann
on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Amirah Vann
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vann, Amirah Living people American film actresses American television actresses Fordham University alumni Far Rockaway High School alumni Actresses from Queens, New York American actors of Puerto Rican descent Tisch School of the Arts alumni 1980 births 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses