Madison Bailey

Bailey was born in Kernersville, North Carolina, and was raised in Kernersville by adoptive parents. She has six older siblings–three brothers and three sisters,^[1] five of whom were also adopted through foster care.^[3] She is of Mauritian and Italian descent^[1] and has openly spoken about growing up in a predominantly white household and community.^[3][4][5] Her mother died in 2018; she and two of her sisters have a tattoo in her memory.^[6][3][7] Bailey attended East Forsyth High School in Kernersville.^[8]

Bailey originally wanted to be a singer, but transitioned to acting and modeling at age 15 after suffering stage fright while singing in front of people.^[9] She began her professional acting career in 2015,^[10] appearing in TV series Mr. Mercedes and Constantine. In 2018, she was cast as Wendy Hernandez, a teenage metahuman with the ability to control and manipulate the air, in the CW science fiction TV series Black Lightning, a role she played for two seasons.

Since 2020, she has portrayed Kiara "Kie" Carrera on the Netflix mystery drama Outer Banks.^[11]

Bailey was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder around the age of 18.^[12][13][1]

Bailey came out as pansexual in 2017. From 2020 to 2025, she was in a relationship with retired basketball player Mariah Linney.^[3][5][14] She enjoys doing her own makeup and has appeared in advertising campaigns for Fenty Beauty.^[14][15]