Leah Sava Jeffries (; born September 25, 2009) is an American actress. Jeffries made her acting debut on the American musical drama, ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' (2015) and later her feature film debut in the action-thriller '' Beast'' (2022). In 2022, Jeffries was cast as Annabeth Chase in the

television adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...

Rick Riordan Richard Russell Riordan Jr. ( ; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million cop ...

's fantasy novel series, ''

Percy Jackson & the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series foll ...

,'' which earned her two

NAACP Image Awards 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 ...

, along with a nomination for the Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Performer.

Early life

Jeffries was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

to Lee Jeffries and Floyd S. Jeffries Jr. She has an older brother, Floyd Jeffries, who is also an actor and model. She attended school in the Novi Community School District.

Career

Prior to her acting debut, Jeffries worked as a model for children's products for Carol's Daughter. Jeffries' acting debut was at age 5 as Lola Lyon on ''

''. On May 5, 2022, Jeffries was announced as Annabeth Chase in ''

Percy Jackson and the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series follo ...

''. Immediately following the casting announcement, Jeffries received harassment online because she was African-American, while her character, Annabeth Chase, was portrayed as white in the book series the show was based on. On May 10, the books' author,

, posted a blog post in which he condemned the backlash against Jeffries and reaffirmed his support of her. Alexandra Daddario, the actress who played Annabeth in the two movie adaptations, also posted support for Jeffries online. Members of the fanbase who supported Jeffries' casting posted support online with the hashtag #LeahIsOurAnnabeth. In August 2022, the film '' Beast'' was released, in which Jeffries played Norah Samuels. Later that year, '' Something from Tiffany's'', in which Jeffries played Daisy Greene, was released.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffries, Leah 2009 births Living people 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Detroit Victims of cyberbullying African-American child actresses 21st-century African-American actresses American child actresses American child models American film actresses American television actresses