Shamika Cotton is an American

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is perhaps best known to

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

viewers as Michael Lee's drug-addicted mother Raylene Lee in the acclaimed

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

''.

Early years

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Shamika Cotton graduated from

Withrow High School Withrow High School (originally East Side High School) is a public high school located on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Cincinnati Public Schools. History The school opened in 1919 and was listed on the Nat ...

, where her activities included studying advanced chemistry and playing softball and volleyball, in 1994 and from Cincinnati's competitive

School for Creative and Performing Arts A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

, where she studied choir, flute, and theater. She graduated from

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio, United States. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-y ...

in 1999 with a degree in manufacturing engineering.

Career

In 2006, Cotton appeared on the ''

I Wanna Be A Soap Star ''I Wanna Be a Soap Star'' is a reality television series which debuted on the cable channel SOAPnet in 2004. The show is hosted by ''All My Children'' star and ex-''Dancing with the Stars'' participant, Cameron Mathison. It is based on the Britis ...

'' reality series to good reviews, and her performances from the show were also highlighted on ''Entertainment Tonight''. In November, 2007, Cotton launched a weekly videocast on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

entitled the “Shamika Chronicles”, a series that follows her life and offers a realistic look at the daily life and work of an aspiring actress. In 2019, she played small role in the movie ''

The Sun Is Also a Star ''The Sun Is Also a Star'' is a 2019 American teen romance film directed by Ry Russo-Young and written by Tracy Oliver, based on the young adult novel of the same name by Nicola Yoon. The film stars Yara Shahidi, Charles Melton in his feat ...

''.

Filmography

Film/Movie

Television

References

External links

* American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Actresses from Cincinnati Living people 21st-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American actresses Central State University alumni {{US-theat-actor-stub