Yvonne Orji

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 171.252.153.44 (talk) at 05:30, 11 August 2020 (Improve). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Yvonne Orji
Born
Yvonne Anuli Orji

(1983-12-02) 2 December 1983 (age 40)
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Education
Occupations
Years active2011–present

Yvonne Anuli Orji (born 2 December 1983) is a Nigerian-American actress and comedian. She is best known for her role in the television series Insecure (2016–present), for which she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and three NAACP Image Awards.

Biography

Orji was born on 2 December 1983, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, and grew up in Laurel, Maryland in the United States.[1] She spent her high school career in the small town of Lititz, Pennsylvania where she attended Linden Hall (school), the oldest all-girls boarding school in the country. She received a master's degree in public health at George Washington University. Orji's parents expected her to become a doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, or engineer. However, she was inspired to do comedy as a graduate student when she performed stand-up in the talent portion of a beauty pageant.

After graduate school, in 2009, Orji moved to New York City to pursue a career in comedy.[2] In 2015, she landed the role of Molly on Insecure without an agent or any real acting experience.[3]

Personal life

Orji is a devout Christian and has stated that she will remain a virgin until marriage.[2]

She performed at TEDxWilmingtonSalon in 2017, titled "The wait is sexy" on YouTube. In the talk, she explains her reasons for abstaining from sex before marriage.[4]

Charitable Efforts

Outside of her creative work, she is dedicated to philanthropy. In 2008 and 2009 she spent six months working in post-conflict Liberia, with Population Services International (PSI), an NGO that utilizes social marketing in the adoption of healthy behaviors. While in Liberia, she worked with a group of talented youth to help build a mentoring program as well as a weekly talk show that helped educate and prevent against the spread of teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. She currently lends her time and voice as a R(ED) Ambassador, a Literacy Champion for Jumpstart and working with JetBlue for Good.[5]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Love That Girl! Njideka Episode: "Head Shrunk"
2013 Sex (Therapy) with the Jones Moshinda Short film
2016–present Insecure Molly Carter 34 episodes
2017 Jane the Virgin Stacy 2 episodes
2017 Flip the Script Ad Exec 1 Episode: "Mad Woman"
2018 Night School Maya
2019 Spontaneous Agent Rosetti Post-production
2020 Momma, I Made It![6] Herself HBO comedy special

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2020 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Insecure Pending

Further reading

"Yvonne Orji". Current Biography. 79 (11): 51–55. November 2018. OCLC 1005191045.

References

  1. ^ "YVONNE ORJI". Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b Davis, Allison P. (10 October 2016). "Molly From 'Insecure' Is Your New Favorite Single Lady". The Ringer. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  3. ^ Connley, Courtney (17 November 2018). "Yvonne Orji landed her role on HBO's 'Insecure' with no agent, no manager and zero acting experience". CNBC. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  4. ^ "The wait is sexy". YouTube. TEDx Talks.
  5. ^ UTA, Talent Agency. "Yvonne Orji, UTA Bio Page".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Ani, Ivie (6 June 2020). "How Yvonne Orji Made It". Paper. Retrieved 6 July 2020.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yvonne_Orji&oldid=972271072"