Azie Tesfai is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is known for her television roles, including ''

Jane the Virgin ''Jane the Virgin'' is an American romantic comedy-drama and satirical telenovela developed by Jennie Snyder Urman. The series premiered October 13, 2014, on The CW and concluded on July 31, 2019. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan te ...

'' and ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

''.

Early life and education

Azalech ''(Azie)'' Tesfai was raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, the daughter of

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

n immigrants who grew up in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. She is an only child. Tesfai received a degree in business administration from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

.. While at Berkeley she began attending auditions and acting classes.

Career

Tesfai's first role was Cherry Milton in ''

Wicked Wicked Games ''Wicked Wicked Games'' is a telenovela that debuted on December 6, 2006 on the American television network MyNetworkTV. Twentieth Television produced 62 episodes to air weekdays. The limited-run serial was directed by Terry Cunningham, Dennis ...

'' on

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

, where she appeared in 30 episodes over two seasons. She has appeared in ''

Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime-time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex in West Hollywood, ...

'', '' Law & Order: SVU'', ''

Franklin & Bash ''Franklin & Bash'' is an American legal comedy drama television series created by Kevin Falls and Bill Chais. The series starred Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as unconventional lawyers and longtime friends. A Turner Broadcasting exec ...

'' and ''

Royal Pains ''Royal Pains'' is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series is based in part on contemporary concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies and follows Hank Lawson, ...

''. In 2014 she was cast as recurring detective Nadine Hanson in the CW's ''

''. She appeared in season 3 of ''

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

'' in 2016. She was cast as Kelly Olsen, the sister of

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

character James Olsen ( Mehcad Brooks), on the fourth season of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

series ''

''. Prior to her debut appearance in the fourth season, it was announced that Tesfai would be promoted to series regular for the fifth season. She co-wrote episode 12 of the sixth and final season ("Blind Spots"), making her the first

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American Superhero fiction, superhero media franchise and shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series ...

actor to receive a writing credit on an Arrowverse series. Through her focus on writing and producing, Tesfai currently has two series in development: ''The Chase'', which landed with Universal Television for NBC, and ''Sheba'' a drama series about the first queen on the continent of Africa, which landed at Onyx Collective for Hulu with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media producing.

Fortuned Culture

Tesfai founded jewelry company Fortuned Culture in Los Angeles. Proceeds from sales help children in developing countries like Mexico, Ethiopia and Cambodia.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesfai, Azie University of California alumni African-American actresses American people of Eritrean descent Living people American television actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women