Lovie Simone Oppong (born November 29, 1998) is an American actress, best known for her role as Zora Greenleaf in the

Oprah Winfrey Network Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is an American multinational basic cable channel jointly owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios that launched on January 1, 2011, replacing the Discovery Health Channel. The network is led by talk show h ...

drama series, '' Greenleaf''.

Life and career

Simone was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and raised in

Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orange ...

. Here, she attended

Monroe-Woodbury High School Monroe-Woodbury High School is located in Central Valley, New York, Central Valley, New York (state), New York, part of the town and village of Woodbury, Orange County, New York, Woodbury in Orange County, New York, Orange County. It educates all ...

from her freshman year to senior year. Her mother is

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and her father is

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

. She has a twin sister named Yuri, who's a musician that goes by Reiyo The Giant and a younger brother and sister. She studied at an acting school in New York and later appeared in a national commercial for

JC Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

. In 2016, Simone began starring in the

drama series, '' Greenleaf'' playing the role of Zora Greenleaf, the daughter of Kerissa (

Kim Hawthorne Kimberly Hawthorne is an American actress. She began her career appearing on Broadway and daytime soap operas, before landing supporting roles on the prime time dramas. From 2000 to 2005, Hawthorne was regular cast member in the CBC Television po ...

) and Jacob Greenleaf (

Lamman Rucker Lamman Rucker (born October 6, 1971) is an American actor. Rucker began his career on the daytime soap operas ''As the World Turns'' and ''All My Children'', before roles in ''The Temptations (miniseries), The Temptations'', Tyler Perry's films ...

). Simone was originally cast as a recurring cast member, but was promoted to a series regular as of the second season. Simone later made her film debut in a supporting role opposite

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

in the 2018 drama film '' Monster'', which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The following year, she appeared in two drama films that premiered at 2019 Sundance Film Festival: '' Share'' and played a leading role in ''

Selah and the Spades ''Selah and the Spades'' is a 2019 American drama film written and directed by Tayarisha Poe, in her feature directorial debut. It stars Lovie Simone, Celeste O'Connor, Jharrel Jerome, Gina Torres, and Jesse Williams. It had its world premier ...

''. Both films has received positive reviews from critics. In 2020, Simone played one of leads in writer-director

Zoe Lister-Jones Zoe Lister-Jones (born September 1, 1982) is an American actress, and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom ''Life in Pieces'' from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows ''Delocated'' (20 ...

' horror film '' The Craft: Legacy'', a sequel to the 1996 film '' The Craft''. In 2021, Simone starred in the first season of Starz crime drama series, '' Power Book III: Raising Kanan''. In 2022, she was cast opposite

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English stage, television and film actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime ...

Apple TV+ limited series, ''

Manhunt Manhunt may refer to: Search processes * Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive * Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies Social organisations * Manhun ...

''. She starred in the period drama film '' The Walk'', and set to appear in the science fiction thriller '' 57 Seconds''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Lovie Living people 1998 births American television actresses 21st-century American actresses African-American actresses American film actresses Actresses from New York City American people of Ghanaian descent 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people