Lovie Simone

Simone was born and raised in New York City in The Bronx. Here, she attended Frederick Douglass Academy before moving to Orange County, New York. Here, she attended Monroe-Woodbury High School until graduating in 2016. Her mother is African American and her father is Ghanaian.^[3] She has a twin sister named Yori, who's a musician that goes by Reiyo, The Giant^[4] and a younger brother and sister.^[1][5] She studied at an acting school in New York and later appeared in a national commercial for JC Penney.^[1]

Beginning in 2016, Simone starred in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf playing the role of Zora Greenleaf, the daughter of Kerissa (Kim Hawthorne) and Jacob Greenleaf (Lamman Rucker).^[5] Simone was originally cast as a recurring cast member, but was promoted to a series regular by the second season.^[6] Simone later made her film debut in a supporting role opposite Jennifer Hudson and Kelvin Harrison Jr. in the 2018 drama film Monster, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.^[1][7] The following year, she appeared in two drama films that premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Share and Selah and the Spades in which she played the titular role.^[8][9] Both films received positive reviews from critics.^[10][11] In 2020, Simone played one of the leads in writer-director Zoe Lister-Jones' horror film The Craft: Legacy, a sequel to the 1996 film The Craft.^[12][13][14]

In 2021, Simone starred in the first season of Starz crime drama series, Power Book III: Raising Kanan.^[15] In 2022, she was cast opposite Tobias Menzies Apple TV+ limited series, Manhunt.^[16] She starred in the period drama film The Walk, and in 2023, starred in the science fiction thriller 57 Seconds.^[17] In 2025, she starred as the lead character Keisha Clark in the Netflix teen drama series Forever, which received rave reviews from critics.^[18]