Karen Pittman is an American actress. She began her career with small appearances on television shows such as ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satire, satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live' ...

'', ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

'' and ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a struc ...

''. She went on to land recurring roles in ''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg for FX (TV channel), FX. It aired for six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also served as showrunners ...

'' (2014–2016) and ''

Luke Cage Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr. in 1972, he was the first Af ...

'' (2016–2018). Pittman rose to prominence starring as Mia Jordan in the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

drama series '' The Morning Show'' (2019–present) and as Dr. Nya Wallace in the

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

comedy-drama, '' And Just Like That...'' (2021–2023). Her performance in the third season of ''The Morning Show'' earned her a nomination for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series is an award presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). In early Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies, the supporting categories were not always genre-, ...

Early life, family and education

Pittman was born in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and raised in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Voice and Opera at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and a Masters of Fine Arts 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 ...

's Graduate Acting Program.

Career

Pittman has portrayed the character of Jory in the 2012

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

production of ''

Disgraced ''Disgraced'' (2012) is the first stage play by playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar. It premiered in Chicago and has had Off-Broadway and Off West End engagements. The play, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, opened on ...

'' and has performed in

FX Network FX (originally/formerly Fox Extended) is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, a division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Based at the Fox Studios lot in Century City, Los Angeles, F ...

's ''

'' and Netflix's ''

'', as

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

and Inspector Priscilla Ridley, respectively. Since 2019, Pittman has starred as Mia Jordan in the

drama series '' The Morning Show'' for which she was nominated for a

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Drama Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest ensemble acting achievements in drama series. Winners and nominees 1990s 20 ...

, along with the cast in 2022 and 2024. For its third season, she was nominated for the

and the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series is one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA) to recognize the work done by television actresses. It was introd ...

. In 2021, she began starring as Dr. Nya Wallace in the

comedy-drama, '' And Just Like That...''. She acted in both series in the same time. In 2022, she played her first leading role, in the romantic drama film, ''Unthinkably Good Things'' directed by

Terri J. Vaughn Terri Juanita Vaughn-Riley (née Vaughn; born October 16, 1969) is an American actress, director and producer. She is best known for her role as high school secretary Lovita Alizay Jenkins-Robinson in The WB sitcom ''The Steve Harvey Show'' (1997 ...

. She later starred alongside

Corey Stoll Corey Daniel Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in ...

in the crime drama film, '' What We Do Next''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theater

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pittman, Karen Living people American television actresses American stage actresses American film actresses Northwestern University alumni New York University alumni Actresses from Mississippi Actresses from Nashville, Tennessee 21st-century American actresses Theatre World Award winners 21st-century African-American actresses Year of birth missing (living people)