Sonequa Martin-Green
Sonequa Chaunté Martin-Green (/səˈniːkwə/;[1] née Martin; born March 21, 1985)[2] is an American actress. She is best known for her television roles as Michael Burnham, the main character in the streaming television series Star Trek: Discovery, and as Sasha Williams on The Walking Dead.[3] Before that, Martin-Green starred in several independent films before gaining her first recurring role, as Courtney Wells on The Good Wife. Later, she had recurring roles as Tamara in Once Upon a Time[4][5][6][7] and Rhonda in New Girl.
Sonequa Martin-Green
Actress
2005–present
2
- Charles Winston Martin (father)
- Vera Lynn Martin-Moore (née Freeman) (mother)
Early life[edit]
Sonequa Martin was born and raised in Russellville, Alabama. Her parents were Charles Winston Martin (1943–2021) and Vera Lynn Martin-Moore (née Freeman; 1950–2021). Her parents divorced and her mother remarried. In April of 2021, her parents died one day apart. Her father passed away after a short cancer battle. Her mother, a three-time cancer survivor, died of a heart attack the next day.
Martin-Green has one full sister, NaKisha, and three older paternal half-sisters.[8][9]
Martin-Green initially planned to become a psychologist before deciding in the tenth grade to pursue a career in acting.[10] On her decision to become an actor, she said, "I didn't know I was going to be an actor until I was 16. I thought I was going to be a psychologist, which is interesting because it's very similar to acting. I was fascinated with human behavior and why people do what they do. I was in the middle of rehearsal in 10th grade when I had this epiphany. And so I got my theatre degree from the University of Alabama."[11]
Martin-Green graduated from the University of Alabama in 2007 with a degree in theatre.[12]
Career[edit]
Film[edit]
While known primarily for her television roles, Sonequa Martin-Green made her film debut in 2009. In 2009, she played the lead role of Tosha Spinner in Toe to Toe opposite Louisa Krause, the fiercely determined scholarship student who seeks to build a brighter future outside of Anacostia and away from one of Washington's poorest neighborhoods. The film focuses on her friendship and rivalry with Jessie (Louisa Krause), a privileged girl from Bethesda whose promiscuous tendencies threaten to become her undoing. They both strive to gain a better understanding of one another's plight as society threatens to drive them ever farther apart. The film received generally positive reviews, with Martin-Green's performance receiving critical acclaim,[13][14] even from the film's detractors.[15][16] In November 2018, it was announced Martin-Green would star in The Outside Story, opposite Brian Tyree Henry, directed by Casimir Nozkowski.[17] In July 2021, she role of Kamiyah James in Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Personal life[edit]
Martin-Green married fellow actor Kenric Green on December 4, 2010. In 2015, Martin-Green gave birth to a boy. Martin-Green was pregnant during filming of the fifth season of The Walking Dead, which she covered up by wearing thick layers of clothing and using larger guns.[35] In 2020, she gave birth to a girl.[36]
Since April 2016, Martin-Green has been an ambassador for Stand Up to Cancer, encouraging clinical trials, with a special emphasis on outreach in ethnically diverse communities. When interviewed by Essence in February 2018, Martin-Green said that her mother had been fighting three types of cancer and one of her half-sisters had breast cancer.[37]
On July 13, 2021, Martin-Green announced on Instagram that both her parents had died; her father on April 9, 2021 and her mother on April 10, 2021[38] due to unrelated reasons.[39] An obituary revealed her father had a "brief but valiant battle with liver cancer".[40]