Sonja Sohn

Sonja Sohn
Sonja Sohn speaks at Harvard Law School, April 2011
Born	Sonja Williams 1964 Newport News, Virginia
Occupation	Actress, screenwriter
Years active	1996 - present
Website
http://www.sonjasohn.net

Sonja Sohn (born 1964) is an American actress and community activist. She is best known for her role as Detective Kima Greggs on the hit HBO drama The Wire, which has led to her current work as the leader of the Baltimore community initiative ReWired for Change. She is currently starring as Detective Samantha Baker on the ABC drama series Body of Proof.

Career

Sohn is of African American and Korean heritage. Before she was an actress, Sohn was a slam poet, having written lyrics and co-written the script for the film Slam. Through the five seasons of the HBO series The Wire, she held a starring role as Detective Kima Greggs. She has also guest starred on many episodes of Cold Case as "Toni Halstead". She won the supporting television actress award at the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards for her character on The Wire.

She has had supporting roles in Hollywood films Bringing Out the Dead, Shaft and Step Up 2 the Streets. She also starred in independent films Perfume, G and The Killing Zone.

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. In 2011, she was a guest star on the show Bar Karma.^{[citation needed]}

She plays Detective Samantha Baker in the medical drama television series Body of Proof with Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan, which premiered on ABC on March 29, 2011.

Activism

Previously involved in political activism (she campaigned in North Carolina in support of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential bid),^{[citation needed]} Sohn took a break from acting in 2009 to concentrate on social issues. She is the founder and CEO of the Baltimore-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 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.

Personal life

Sohn is a graduate of Warwick High School . She has two daughters and is married to Australian composer Adam Plack.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Work	June
1998	Slam	Lauren Bell	Also Screenwriter
	Bronx County
1999	Getting to Know You	Lynn
	From the Last	Tony Wang
	Bringing Out the Dead	Kanita
2000	Shaft	Alice
2001	Perfume	Dandy
2002	G	Shelly
2002–2008	The Wire	Detective Shakima 'Kima' Greggs	TV Series (60 episodes, 2002–2008)
2003	The Killing Zone	Jennifer
2006–2007	Cold Case	Sarah	"World's End" (11/4/2007) "8:03 AM" (1/28/2007) "Blackout" (1/14/2007) "Knuckle Up" (1/7/2007) "Forever Blue" (12/3/2006)
2008	Step Up 2 the Streets	Sarah
2008–2009	Brothers & Sisters	Trish Evans	"Troubled Waters: Part 2" (3/1/2009) "Troubled Waters: Part 1" (3/1/2009) "Unfinished Business" (11/30/2008) "Do You Believe In Magic" (11/9/2008)
2010	The Good Wife	Sonya Rucker	1 episode
2011	Bar Karma	Lucy Borden	1 episode
2011–present	Body of Proof	Samantha Baker	main cast

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film or series	Result
1998	Gotham Awards	Best Actress	Slam	Won
1998	Sundance Film Festival	Grand Jury Prize	Slam	Won
1998	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Debut Performance	Slam	Nominated
2005	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	The Wire	Nominated
2008	Asian Excellence Awards	Outstanding Television Actress	The Wire	Won
2009	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	The Wire	Nominated

External links

• Sonja Sohn at the Internet Movie Database
• reWIRED for Change homepage
• ReWired and Reading Liverpool Philharmonic
• ReWired and Reading The Reader Organisation