
Known For
Acting
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.
Also Known As
Movie Appearances

The Black Disquisition
as Sedalia / Mom
2021

Dinner Rush
as Adrian
2000

Launch at Paradise
as Elsa
2022

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
as Mining Tribe Elder
2022

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
as Older Mack
2023

Drift
as Etweda Kamara
2024
Buried Deep
as Zainab
2016

False Positive
as Grace Singleton
2021

Farewell Amor
as Esther
2020

Emily & Tim
as Helayne Specter (segment 'Healing')
2015
Sherman
as Sherman
2022

Watching Mr. Pearson
as The Advisor
2026
TV Appearances

The Blacklist
as Aïssa Joachim
2013

Only Murders in the Building
as Ndidi Idoko
2021

Elementary
as Vicki
2012

The Continental: From the World of John Wick
as Mazie
2023

Blindspot
as President Botros
2015

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Homeless Person
1999

Homeland
as Aby Bah
2011

East New York
as Adama Gueye
2022

The Good Lord Bird
as Harriet Tubman
2020