Shamika Cotton is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is perhaps best known to

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

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

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, 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 ba ...

series ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

''.

Career

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Shamika Cotton graduated from Cincinnati's competitive

School for Creative and Performing Arts The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is a magnet arts school in Cincinnati in the US state of Ohio, and part of the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS). SCPA was founded in 1973 as one of the first magnet schools in Cincinnati and becam ...

. 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 Brit ...

'' reality series to good reviews, and her performances from the show were also highlighted on

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

. In November, 2007, Cotton launched a weekly videocast on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

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, Cotton briefly appeared on single episodes of six different television series, as well as a small part in the box office bomb ''

The Sun Is Also a Star ''The Sun Is Also a Star'' is a 2019 American Drama (film and television), teen drama 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, Charl ...

''.

Filmography

Film/Movie

Television

References

External links

* African-American actresses 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 women 21st-century African-American people {{US-theat-actor-stub