Serayah Ranee McNeill (born June 20, 1995) also known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

as Serayah, is an American actress, model and singer, best known for her role as singer Tiana Brown on the television show ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

''.

Early life

Serayah Ranee McNeill was born in

Encinitas, California Encinitas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between ...

. She graduated from

Taft High School Taft School or Taft High School may refer to: * Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, founded by Horace Dutton Taft, William Howard Taft's brother Schools named after William Howard Taft: * William Howard Taft High School (Los Angeles) * Willi ...

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

, where she played for the girls' varsity basketball team, in 2013.

Acting career

The character of Tiana on ''

'' marks her first major acting role. In a 2015 interview with ''

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl G ...

'', Serayah stated of her role, "One thing I always say about this show is it's a lot of drama, but it's family drama so people relate. Every family has some type of drama, and I think that it touches on a lot of the entertainment business and the music business. Some exaggerated parts, but it really does touch on some of the things that happen." She was added to the series regular cast on August 26, 2015. In March 2021, Serayah joined the cast of ''

Black Mafia Family The Black Mafia Family (BMF) was a drug trafficking and money laundering organization in the United States. The Black Mafia Family was founded in 1985, in Southwest Detroit by brothers Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and Terry "Southwest T" F ...

'' in a recurring role.

Musical career

In 2015, Serayah appeared in singer

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

's video for the song " Bad Blood" as the character Dilemma. On July 18, 2015, Swift performed a rendition of her song "

Style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

" alongside McNeill on the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

stop of her

The 1989 World Tour The 1989 World Tour was the fourth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her fifth studio album, ''1989'' (2014). Swift announced the tour's first dates in North America, Europe, Japan, and Oceania in November an ...

. She performed at Marshall Academy of the Arts in Long Beach in March 2015. In 2016, she was featured in the RedOne song "

Don't You Need Somebody "Don't You Need Somebody" is a song by Moroccan record producer RedOne that features collective vocals by Enrique Iglesias, R. City, Serayah, and Shaggy. It was released on 20 May 2016. Music video An official music video was released on 1 Augu ...

", that also features

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...

R. City R. City (short for Rock City; and formerly Planet VI) is a Virgin Islands musical duo formed in 2003, from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The duo is composed of brothers Theron "Uptown AP" Thomas and Timothy "A.I." Thomas. Primarily known ...

and

Shaggy Shaggy may refer to: People *Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer * Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse * Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspor ...

. In 2018, she released her debut EP ''Addicted''. In 2019, she played a main role in the music video for "

Undecided "Undecided" is a popular song written by Sid Robin and Charlie Shavers and published in 1938. Recordings *The first recording was made by John Kirby and The Onyx Club Boys on October 28, 1938, and released by Decca Records as catalog number 22 ...

" by

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

. Appeared in 2022 music video by Diddy feat.

Bryson Tiller Bryson Djuan Tiller (born January 2, 1993) is an American singer and rapper. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he began his career in 2011 with a mixtape entitled ''Killer Instinct Vol. 1''. Tiller initially gained mainstream success in 2015 follow ...

- Gotta Move On.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

;EPs * ''Addicted'' (2018) * ''Ray ' ' (2020)

Featured

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serayah Living people African-American actresses William Howard Taft Charter High School alumni 21st-century African-American women singers 1995 births 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers