Xosha Roquemore

Biography

Xosha Roquemore is an American TV & Movie actress. She is known for her role as Jo Ann in Academy award winning drama movie Precious(2009).

Her recent appearances include playing Emma in the movie Let's Get merried (2021), as Emma (again) in the movie Who Invited Charlie?(2022).

Family- Childhood

Xosha Roquemore was born as Xosha (pronunciation: Zo-sha; meaning: sought after) Kai Roquemore on 11th December 1984 in Los Angeles, California. 

Xosha is named after Xhosa people (h in a different place), a Bantu ethnic group found in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Her father was visiting the area around there and found the place and culture interesting.

Her father Cliff Roquemore(1948-2002) was a writer, director and producer known for works such as Rude(1982), Petey Wheatstraw(1977), The Human Tornado(1976), Disco Godfather (1979) and others. He is particulary known for his off-broadway works such as "Selma," "Eubie," "Shaka Zulu," and "Invasion of Addis Ababa." He died of cancer at the age 53 in 2002. [5]

[Cliff Roquemore]

Her mother Shay Wafer (please check the note at the bottom), a theater producer [3], is an inspiration to Xosha, she has always valued her mother's advice "Don’t be afraid to be great". [2]

[Xosha Roquemore's mother and grandmother]

She has two brothers in Rokki Roquemore (an actor known for Blunt News (2022), Once Upon a Time in Detroit (2017), Let Clay Be Clay (2013)) and Bryan Roquemore, and a sister.

Education

• The Amazing Grace Conservatory: She joined the The Amazing Grace Conservatory in the ninth grade, she acted in many plays at the program. She also learned that one could major in acting at the program. [2]
• NYU Tisch School of the Arts: After her graduation, she enrolled herself at New York University's Tisch school of Arts. Being the only black girl at the school in her batch, she found opportunities to meet agents and thus find an entry into the indsutry. As confessed by her, one of the reasons she picked the school was to develop connections by the time she had graduated. [2]

Boyfriend & Relationship

Xosha Roquemore & Lakeith Stanfield

Xosha Roquemore and actor Lakeith Stanfield began dating in August 2015. They have a daughter together (born on June 22nd 2017).

LaKeith Stanfield is an academy award nominated actor and musician. He made his debut with Short Term 12 (2013) and is known for his appearances in Straight Outta Compton (2015), Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) and others.

Image: Xosha Roquemore with boyfriend Lakeith Stanfield

[Xosha Roquemore & Lakeith Stanfield with their daughter]

Career

Xosha's first audition was for a role in Sesame Street and she didn’t get it, later she had an unsuccessful audition for the role in Star Trek.

She worked in restaurants during her initial days to supplement her income from acting. [2]

Xosha's first big break came with Precious(2009), an independent movie directed by Lee Daniels, adopted from the novel PUSH by Sapphire, she received an academy award nomination for the movie with the whole cast.

She played Tamra Webb in "The Mindy Project", she appears in a total of 82 episodes.

Interesting Facts

• Xosha used to have a thick curly hair, she didn't like it when she was young, she has now grown to appreciate her natural hair.
• She likes fashion, especially vintage style, she is regular reader of Vogue & is good enough to be a professional stylist if she wants to.
• Her favorite beauty secret?- Confidence
• She received Nomination at the Washington D.C Film Critics Association Award for her role in Precious
• The first chosen name for the character Tamara in the TV series The Mindy Project(2013-) was actually Xosha, same as the actress chosen for the role, however, they later changed to Tamara.
• In the TV series Atlanta (2022) her character is also named Xosha.
• She likes to sing and dance in real life, she has that in common with her character Tamara in the TV series The Mindy Project(2013-).
• She is democratic party supporter, supported Obama in 2008 elections.
• She has Level 10 Ornithophobia: Irrational fear of birds, she is particularly scared of pigeons.
• Her favorite place in NYC:  Santos Party House in Tribeca.
• She likes Tattoos on men.
• She likes dogs, has a pet dog at home.
• She likes pictures of babies in head wraps.

Filmography

Movies

TV Series

Short Films

Awards

Quotes

• There are a lot of people with legit acting and training, and every year people are graduating from these schools and great acting programs. It’s about timing and patience and staying with it [2]
• I remember I had no interest in film and only wanted to do theater. But I think I was intimidated. PUSH (her first film) was a big deal for me. It gave me a lot of reassurance and confidence to pursue film. [2]
• [About her makeup routine] I wear eyeliner, mascara and Vaseline. I get made fun of for that! ... I also use Bobbi Brown gloss and YSL gold gloss and sometimes combine the two. [2]

Sources

1. Xosha Roquemore on wikipedia
2. Clutch Magazine interview, 2008
3. Xosha on her mother Shay Wafer
4. Xosha wishing her father on Father's day
5. Cliff Roquemore bio on IMBD

Notes:

* Xosha has mentioned in her interviews that her father was a director and had visited Xhosa people in South Africa, and he directed "Shaka Zulu" (Reference/ source 2), Google search lists one Cliff Roquemore (same last name) (also note 4) who was a writer and director, who directed "Shaka Zulu". So it is almost credible that Cliff Roquemore is her father. As per his IMDB Bio, his wife's name is Jennifer. However, we couldn't independently verify the name, In Xosha's instagram page, where she has posted a few pics of her mother, she has referred to her as Mama Shay, and Shay Wafer in her posts, there is some confusion about the correct name. Since it is directly from Xosha's pages, we are going with that.