Zephani Idoko is a Nigerian-American actress best known for her starring role as Abena in Horror film ''The Unsettling'' and her supporting role as Sallay in

Nikyatu Jusu Nikyatu Jusu () is an American independent writer, director, producer, editor and assistant professor in film and video at George Mason University. Jusu's works center on the complexities of Black female characters and in particular, displaced, i ...

's ''Nanny'', which won the top award (The

Grand Jury Prize A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

) at the 2022

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. She also plays Stephanie on the

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

show Power book II: Ghost and Ashley on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

Personal life

Zephani Idoko was born in

Lagos, Nigeria Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

to parents Deborah and John Idoko as the youngest of six siblings. After moving to the United States, she earned a BFA degree studying Acting under

Diane Baker Diane Carol Baker is an American actress, producer and educator who has appeared in motion pictures and on television since 1959. Early life Baker was born in 1938 at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California a ...

at the Academy Of Art in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Idoko began working as an actor and model while still an undergraduate. She met her husband during her time in San Francisco and the two were married 4 years later in 2019, and now live 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 ...

Career

Shortly after her graduation and move to New York City, She was cast in the starring role of Abena in the independent psychological horror film ''The Unsettling'' which screened at international film festivals in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, The UK and The US in 2021 and 2022 l before its release on February 10 2023 in select theaters and on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

and other streaming platforms. Idoko's most recent TV appearances are in the recurring role of Stephanie in

show Power Book II: Ghost and her role in the 2nd season of

. In June 2021, it was announced that Idoko was cast in the supporting role of Sallay in

Blumhouse Blumhouse Productions (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH) is an American film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum. It is known mainly for producing horror films, such as ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Insidiou ...

and Amazon Studios' psychological Horror film, ''Nanny'', Which Premiered at

2022 and won the

in the dramatic competition. Idoko has discussed the film and her career in a number of interviews, including her feature i
Photobook Magazine
and with OkayAfrica Nanny screened in the Special Presentations category at

TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...

in September 2022 and at several other festivals including

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

AFI FEST The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fun ...

and AFRIFF in Lagos Nigeria, where Idoko was born. Nanny was released in movie theaters November 23, 2022, followed by a

streaming release on December 16, 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Zephani Idoko
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

* https://zephaniidoko.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Idoko, Zephani 1994 births Living people American film actresses Actresses from San Francisco American television actresses African-American actresses American people of Nigerian descent 21st-century American actresses 21st-century African-American women