Sonja Denise Plack (' Williams; born May 9, 1964), known professionally as Sonja Sohn, is an American actress, activist and filmmaker, best known for portraying

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

detective

Kima Greggs Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a determined and capable police detective in the Baltimore Police Department. Openly lesbian, she often displays a hardened, c ...

in the

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 ...

drama ''

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 ...

'' (2002–2008). She is also known for having starred in the independent film ''

Slam Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...

'', which she co-wrote, and appearing as Samantha Baker in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

series ''

Body of Proof ''Body of Proof'' is an American medical/crime comedy-drama television series that ran on ABC from March 29, 2011, to May 28, 2013, and starred Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt. The series was created by Christopher Murphey and p ...

''. Her role in ''The Wire'' led to her work as the leader of a

community initiative called ReWired for Change.

Early life

Sohn was born Sonja Denise Williams in

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Her mother was Korean and her father was Black. Her parents met when her father was stationed in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

after the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. She attended and graduated from Warwick High School in Newport News.

Career

Before she was an actress, Sohn was a

slam Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...

poet. While performing her work on stage, she was spotted by

Marc Levin Marc Levin is an American independent film producer and director. He is best known for his '' Brick City'' TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking and his dramat ...

who offered her a role in his film ''

''. She also wrote lyrics and co-wrote the script for the film. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the

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 ...

. After debuting in ''Slam'', Sohn appeared in minor roles in films such as '' Shaft'' and ''

Bringing Out the Dead ''Bringing Out the Dead'' is a 1999 American psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader, based on the novel of the same name by Joe Connelly. It stars Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, V ...

''. She also starred in independent films ''

Perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

'', '' G'' and ''

The Killing Zone ''The Killing Zone'' is an unauthorised James Bond novel by James Hatfield, Jim Hatfield. It was privately published in paperback in 1985 under the guise that it was officially sanctioned by Ian Fleming Publications, Glidrose Publications (later ...

''. Through the five seasons of the HBO series ''The Wire'', she held a starring role as Detective Kima Greggs. She struggled during the first season of ''The Wire'' and considered quitting as she had trouble recalling her lines. She has also guest-starred on many episodes of ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

'' as "Toni Halstead". She won the supporting television actress award at the 2008

Asian Excellence Awards The Asian Excellence Awards was an annual celebration of the outstanding achievements of Asians and Asian Americans in film, television, music, and the performing arts. The Asian Excellence Awards is the only nationally televised event celebrating ...

for her character on ''The Wire''. She had a supporting role in the Hollywood film '' Step Up 2: The Streets''. In 2008-09, she was a guest star in the ABC series '' Brothers & Sisters'', and in 2010 she appeared in an episode of CBS series ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...

''. In 2011, she was a guest star on the show ''

Bar Karma ''Bar Karma'' is the first online community-developed network television series. Online users pitch their own ideas for scenes and twists online, using a tool designed by Will Wright called the Storymaker. Some are eventually chosen by the produc ...

''. She played

Detective Samantha Baker This is a list of the characters featured in the American medical drama ''Body of Proof'' created by Christopher Murphey starring Dana Delany. Regular characters Megan Hunt *Played by: Dana Delany *Seasons 1–3 Megan Hunt is a brilliant neuro ...

in the first two seasons of the

medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...

television series ''

'' with

Dana Delany Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama ''China Beach'' (1988–1991), for which s ...

and

Jeri Ryan Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'', for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised ...

, which premiered on

on March 29, 2011. On May 30, 2014, it was announced that Sohn would be joining season 2 of '' The Originals'', in a recurring role as the witch Lenore a.k.a. Esther Mikaelson. Sohn made her directorial debut with the 2017

documentary '' Baltimore Rising'' about the 2015 Baltimore protests and community organizing that arose in response to police violence.

Activism

Previously involved in political activism (she campaigned in North Carolina in support of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's 2008 presidential bid), Sohn took a break from acting in 2009 to concentrate on social issues. She is the founder and CEO of the

-based reWIRED for Change, an outreach program intended to communicate with (and ultimately rehabilitate) at-risk youth involved in criminal activity. The program is run out of the

University of Maryland School of Social Work A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and uses episodes of ''The Wire'' as a teaching tool, encouraging the participants to examine and query their lives and past actions. Other actors and writers involved with ''The Wire'' serve as board members. In 2011, she was presented with the Woman of the Year award from the Harvard Black Men's Forum.

Personal life

In 2003, Sohn married

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

player Adam Plack. She has two daughters born 1986 and 1990. Sohn and Plack are divorced. On July 21, 2019, Sohn was arrested in North Carolina and charged with felony possession of cocaine.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
reWIRED for Change homepage
rewiredforchange.org; accessed December 8, 2014.

, liverpoolphil.com; accessed December 8, 2014.
ReWired and Reading The Reader Organisation
thereaderonline.co.uk; accessed December 8, 2014. *
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Sohn
c-span.org; accessed December 8, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sohn, Sonja 1964 births African-American poets African-American actresses American poets American writers of Korean descent American film actresses American television actresses African-American activists American activists American actresses of Korean descent Slam poets Living people People from Newport News, Virginia American women poets Actresses from Baltimore 21st-century American poets 21st-century American actresses 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women African-American women writers