Zainab Jah
Biography
Zainab Jah was raised in Sierra Leone and returned to London at the age of ten. After graduating from London Contemporary Dance, she toured as a modern dancer, eventually trading dance for acting. She appeared in numerous plays, winning rave reviews for shows both on and off-Broadway including the Tony-nominated Eclipsed, and won Best Actress from the Philadelphia Critic’s Circle for Hamlet at the Wilma Theatre. Her work in film & TV includes anti-corruption minister Aminata Sissoko in the second season of Deep State, Aby Bah in Homeland, and Harriet Tubman in Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird. Other work includes appearances on Blindspot, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the EPIX series Deep State, and the Sundance hit Farewell Amor. Most recently, she was featured in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She can currently be seen in the John Wick spin-off mini-series The Continental.
Known For
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Blacklist
Homeland
Elementary
Blindspot
Only Murders in the Building
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
East New York
All Movies (12)
- Watching Mr. Pearson2026 · as The Advisor
- Drift2024 · as Etweda Kamara
- All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt2023 · as Older Mack
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever2022 · as Mining Tribe Elder
- Launch at Paradise2022 · as Elsa
- Sherman2022 · as Sherman
- The Black Disquisition2021 · as Sedalia / Mom
- False Positive2021 · as Grace Singleton
- Farewell Amor2020 · as Esther
- Buried Deep2016 · as Zainab
- Emily & Tim2015 · as Helayne Specter (segment 'Healing')
- Dinner Rush2000 · as Adrian
All TV Shows (9)
- The Continental: From the World of John Wick2023 · as Mazie
- East New York2022 · as Adama Gueye
- Only Murders in the Building2021 · as Ndidi Idoko
- The Good Lord Bird2020 · as Harriet Tubman
- Blindspot2015 · as President Botros
- The Blacklist2013 · as Aïssa Joachim
- Elementary2012 · as Vicki
- Homeland2011 · as Aby Bah
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit1999 · as Homeless Person