Nicole Beharie

Nicole Beharie Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: January 3, 1985

Age: 39 years old

Birth Place: West Palm Beach, Florida

Classically trained by way of Shakespeare and the Julliard School, Nicole Beharie broke new ground as one of the first African-American actresses to appear in a starring role on prime time network TV show in almost forty years. Before landing the role of Lt. Abbie Mills on the TV show "Sleepy Hollow" (Fox, 2013-), however, Beharie had small roles in a number of TV shows and movies including "Shame" (2011) alongside Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. But it was her casting in "Sleepy Hollow" along with her performance as the wife of Jackie Robinson in the film about his life, "42" (2013), that truly marked Beharie as an actress to watch. Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, Beharie grew up the daughter of a diplomat and lived in Panama, London and Nigeria - her first acting role was in a production of "Alice in Wonderland" in Nigeria. Landing in the American South after a childhood spent abroad, she was forced to adapt quickly as she realized her accent and background set her apart from her schoolmates: "Once I developed a sense of identity, it became fun to play around with those cultural differences," she told Vogue in 2013. Beharie attended the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities as a teenager and went on to study drama at New York City's Julliard School. She landed two small feature film roles just out of college in the dramas "The Express" (2008) and "American Violet" (2008). Neither film was widely seen, but Beharie was singled out for praise for her work in "American Violet" from the African-American Film Critics who awarded her Best Actress. All the same, work was scarce over the next several years for Beharie; she landed only a few small parts on TV shows and in film as well as in a Broadway production of "A Free Man of Color" in 2010. Such a career trajectory might have suited her: "I thought I was going to do guerilla theater in Central Park or be in my loft in Brooklyn, and it's all gonna be 'cool artist chic,'" she recalled in a Vanity Fair interview in February of 2013. However, she caught the eye of a number of viewers as well as actor Michael Fassbender with her performance in "Shame." She and Fassbender also dated for a couple of years following their meeting on the set. In 2013, Beharie's star rose with two significant roles. The first was that of legendary African-American baseball star Jackie Robinson's wife Rachel in the biopic "42." The second was a lead role on the paranormal television series "Sleepy Hollow" in which a reawakened Ichabod Crane teams up with cop Lt. Abbie Mills to fight occult forces in a modern Sleepy Hollow. On the heels of actress Kerry Washington's casting in "Scandal" (ABC, 2012- ) a year earlier, Beharie became only the second female African-American actress to lead a prime time TV show in nearly four decades. In a surprising twist to end the series' third season, Beharie's Abbie Mills was killed off, concurrent with the announcement that the actress was leaving the show.

Credits

Frederick Douglass: In Five SpeechesStream

Actor
Miniseries
2022

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.Stream

Actor
Shakura Sumpter
Movie
2022
72%

BreakingStream

Actor
Estel Valerie
Movie
2022
81%

Scenes from a MarriageStream

Actor
Kate
Series
2021
83%

SolosStream

Actor
Nera
Series
2021
44%

MonsterlandStream

Actor
Series
2020
83%

The Drew Barrymore ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2020

Miss JuneteenthStream

Actor
Turquoise
Movie
2020
99%

The Morning ShowStream

Actor
Christina Hunter
Series
2019
65%

Jacob's LadderStream

Actor
Movie
2019
4%

Monsters and MenStream

Actor
Michelle
Movie
2018
83%

Sleepy Hollow: Cast and Creators Live at PaleyFest

Guest
Show
2014

Sleepy HollowStream

Actor
Lt. Abbie Mills
Series
2013
74%

The Arsenio Hall Show

Guest
Show
2013

Sleepy Hollow: Extras

Actor
Show
2013

42Stream

Actor
Rachel Robinson
Movie
2013
81%

Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day

Actor
Beth Hutchins
Movie
2012

The Last Fall

Actor
Faith Davis
Movie
2012

Small of Her Back

Actor
Piper
Movie
2012

Apartment 4E

Actor
Piper
Movie
2012

Black MirrorStream

Actor
Theo
Series
2011
83%

ShameStream

Actor
Marianne
Movie
2011
79%

My Last Day Without You

Actor
Leticia
Movie
2011

Access Hollywood Live

Guest
Show
2010

Sins of the Mother

Actor
Shay
Movie
2010

Three Rivers

Guest Star
Show
2009

The Good WifeStream

Guest Star
Imani Stonehouse
Series
2009
93%

The ExpressStream

Actor
Sarah Ward
Movie
2008
62%

American Violet

Actor
Dee Roberts
Movie
2008

BonesStream

Guest Star
Abbie Mills
Series
2005
90%

Tavis Smiley

Guest
Talk
2004

Law & Order: Special Victims UnitStream

Guest Star
Tracy Harrison
Series
1999
78%

Good Morning America

Guest
News
1975

News aboutNicole Beharie

'Sleepy Hollow' cast

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Nicole Beharie

‘The Morning Show’ Adds Nicole Beharie as New Anchor for Season 3

Nicole Beharie in Solos
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Social Media: How Fans Do (and Don’t) Impact TV Storylines

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Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie in Sleepy Hollow

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Lyndie Greenwood, Nicole Beharie, and Tom Mison in Sleepy Hollow

‘Sleepy Hollow’s Finale Delivers the Biggest Loss Yet to Team Witness

Lyndie Greenwood and Tom Mison in the 'Dark Mirror' episode of Sleepy Hollow

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Lyndie Greenwood and Nicole Beharie in Sleepy Hollow

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What’s Worth Watching:’Bones’ and ‘Sleepy Hollow’ on Fox for Thursday, October 1

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Abbie Explains the High School Hierarchy to Ichabod in a Deleted ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Scene (VIDEO)