Saycon Sengbloh (born October 23, 1977) is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play The Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality supporting roles in a Broadway theatre, ...

and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

for Outstanding Performance for her role in

Danai Gurira Danai Jekesai Gurira (; born February 14, 1978) is a Zimbabwean-American actress, playwright, and activist. She is known for her starring roles as Michonne in the AMC horror drama franchise '' The Walking Dead'' and Okoye in Marvel Cinematic U ...

's play '' Eclipsed'' in 2016.

Life and career

Sengbloh was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. She first began acting at Tri-Cities School for the Visual and Performing Arts. Sengbloh then attended

Agnes Scott College Agnes Scott College is a Private university, private Women's Colleges in the Southern United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia. The college enrolls approximately 1,000 undergra ...

in Decatur, Georgia, where she studied music and Spanish before leaving to pursue a career in acting and music.

Stage

Sengbloh has starred in a number of Broadway musicals, including '' Aida'', '' Wicked'' (as a standby for Elphaba), '' The Color Purple'', ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'', '' Fela!'', '' Motown: The Musical'', and '' Holler If Ya Hear Me''. Her breakthrough came in 2015, when

cast Sengbloh in '' Eclipsed'', a play about five Liberian women and their tale of survival near the end of the

Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a civil war in the West African nation of Liberia that lasted from 1999 to 2003. The war was mainly caused by transition failures after the First Civil War, especially the peace-building process which would res ...

. It became the first play with an all-black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway. ''Eclipsed'' opened Off-Broadway at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: ...

in October 2015 with positive reviews and ran until November 2015. The following year, it transferred to Broadway, premiering at the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

with an opening on March 6, 2016. Her performance received positive reviews from critics. She won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for original Off-Broadway production, and

nomination for Broadway production.

Television and film

Sengbloh made her screen debut playing opposite Kimberly Elise in the 1997 television film ''The Ditchdigger's Daughters''. In 1999, she made her big screen debut appearing in the independent drama film '' Funny Valentines'' starring

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard ( ; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Scree ...

. She later played small parts in films ''

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our W ...

'' and '' American Gangster''. She also made guest appearances on television series including ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

'' and ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal 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 2017, Sengbloh was cast in a recurring role as Angela Webster for the sixth season of

Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television producer and screenwriter, and founder of the production company Shondaland. Inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Rhimes became known ...

' political drama ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

''. She played the role of Roberta in the 2018 historical drama film '' Ask for Jane''. In 2021, she starred opposite

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, producer, and talk show host. Having received List of awards and nominations received by Jennifer Hudson, numerous accolades for ...

in the biographical drama film ''

Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or deferential action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also th ...

'' playing

Erma Franklin Erma Vernice Franklin (March 13, 1938 – September 7, 2002) was an American gospel and soul singer. She recorded the original version of " Piece of My Heart", written and produced by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns in 1967, for which she was nom ...

, the elder sister of

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

. In 2021, it was announced that she would play lead role Lillian Williams in the reboot of the TV series, ''The Wonder Years.''

Miscellaneous

In 2019, Sengbloh launched a personal lifestyle

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

called SayconTalks.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sengbloh, Saycon 1977 births 20th-century African-American actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Atlanta American people of Liberian descent American television actresses American stage actresses Living people Drama Desk Award winners 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people