Nana Mensah (born August 26, 1988) is an American actress, writer, and director known for her roles in 13 Reasons Why, An African City, New Amsterdam, Bonding, and The Chair.[1] Mensah's directorial debut, Queen of Glory, had its festival premiere in 2021, and was released in 2022.

Early life and education

Nana Afiah Mensah was born in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in the Farmington Valley region. Her parents immigrated from Ghana in the 1970s. Her father is a chemical engineer.[2] She has one brother. She attended the Loomis Chaffee School, a private boarding school. Her high school drama teacher, Brian Kosanovich, encouraged her to pursue acting professionally.[3]

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, her parents wanted her to attend law school. After working in the legal field, she moved to New York City to become an actress in 2009.[4][5] To support herself, she worked in restaurants, retail, administration, and childcare.[6] She trained at the now-defunct Actors Center, the Shakespeare Lab, at the Public Theater, and LAByrinth Theater Company Master Class.[7]

Career

In 2009, Mensah played Leslie in The Film You Did Not See. She spent the next few years landing roles in short films like 2010 comedy Behold the Swelling Scene, 2012 comedy Alternate Sides, and the 2013 biographical drama Daadi.[8]

In 2014, Mensah played Sade, Nigerian-Ghanaian expat in An African City. The web series created by Nicole Amarteifio was dubbed "Africa's answer to Sex and the City". She reprised the role for season two.[9]

Mensah has starred in various off-Broadway roles including Nollywood Dreams, reprising the role of Dede in after the production shut down due to COVID-19.[10] Other credits include The Bacchae, Mother Courage and Her Children, Inked Baby, and A Question of Impeachment.[11]

In 2016, she starred as Clare in the Obie Award-winning play, I'll Never Love Again.[12] In 2017 she played Tamyra in Man from Nebraska, for which she earned an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress.[13] In 2020, she co-starred in Farewell Amor as Linda, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival's U.S. Dramatic Competition.[14]

In 2021, Mensah premiered Queen of Glory, a film about a Ghanaian-American academic who inherits a Christian bookstore after the passing of her mother.[15] Mensah wrote, directed, and starred in the film which was completed in 30 days, but took over seven years total to complete.[16] She cited Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood For Love, films by the Duplass Brothers, Kevin Smith's Clerks, and Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture as influences.[17] Mensah stated that frustration with limited and stereotypical roles led her to create the film as an artistic outlet: "I wasn't given artistic opportunities anywhere else, so I had to go out and make some."[18] The film was funded through investors, Kickstarter campaigns, and Mensah's own savings.[19]

Queen of Glory premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival U.S. Narrative Competition.[20] Mensah won Best New Narrative Director and Special Jury Prize for Artistic Expression. In February 2022, the film was acquired by Film Movement with plans for a theatrical and video-on-demand release.[21] The film was nominated for Best First Feature at the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards.[22] It won numerous film festival prizes, including two awards from the Champs-Élysées Film Festival and the inaugural California Film Institute's Mind the Gap Creation Prize.[23]

In 2021, The Chair premiered on Netflix, in which Mensah portrays Yasmin "Yaz" McKay, a popular English professor.[24] She was a staff writer on Random Acts of Flyness, Amazon's The Power, and the second season of the Netflix series Bonding.[25] She sold an-hour long drama pilot called Imperium to AMC.[26]

In 2023, The Diplomat premiered on Netflix, in which Mensah portrays Billie Appiah, the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States. [27]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2009 The Film You Did Not See Leslie
2017 The Misogynists Blake
2018 Like Father American Airlines Agent
2020 Farewell Amor Linda
2020 The King of Staten Island Kindergarten Teacher
2020 The Man in the Woods Ethel Patterson
2021 Queen of Glory Sarah Obeng Also writer and director
2021 After Yang Cafe Owner

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2014 An African City Sade 10 episodes
2015 The Walker Oprah Episode: "What Being a Celebrity Escort Is Like"
2017–2018 Madam Secretary Sally Palermo 3 episodes
2018 The Good Fight Kristen Episode: "Day 422"
2018 Orange Is the New Black Hairdresser Episode: "Well This Took a Dark Turn"
2018 Elementary Agent Kerner Episode: "Breathe"
2019 New Amsterdam Dr. Camila Candelario 12 episodes
2019 Evil Esther Episode: "2 Fathers"
2019–2020 13 Reasons Why Amara Josephine Achola 12 episodes
2020 Little America Eunice Episode: "The Baker"
2021 Bonding Mistress Mira 6 episodes
2021 The Chair Yaz McKay
2023 The Diplomat (American TV series) Billie Appiah 8 episodes
TBA Presumed Innocent Det. Alana Rodriguez Upcoming miniseries

References

  1. ^ "'The Chair' Star Nana Mensah Will Never Be Bored". W Magazine. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  2. ^ Nana Mensah at TEDxBrooklyn, retrieved 2022-03-09
  3. ^ "Nana Mensah". the muse project. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  4. ^ "'The Chair' Star Nana Mensah Will Never Be Bored". W Magazine. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  5. ^ Broadway.com #LiveatFive with Nana Mensah of MAN FROM NEBRASKA, retrieved 2022-03-09
  6. ^ "Nana Mensah". the muse project. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  7. ^ "Nana Mensah". the muse project. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  8. ^ "Woman Crush Wednesday: Let's Give A Standing Ovation for 'The Chair' Actress Nana Mensah". Decider. 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  9. ^ "An African City". anafricancity.vhx.tv. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  10. ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe. "BWW Interview: Nana Mensah Talks NOLLYWOOD DREAMS, QUEEN OF GLORY & More". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  11. ^ "An African City". anafricancity.tv. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  12. ^ Shaw, Helen. "I'll Never Love Again (a chamber piece)". Time Out New York. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  13. ^ "Outer Critics Circle Awards: Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play". www.abouttheartists.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  14. ^ "farewell-amor". www.sundance.org. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  15. ^ Grobar, Matt (2022-01-19). "'Queen Of Glory' Filmmaker Nana Mensah Inks With WME". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  16. ^ "Nana Mensah On Her Directorial Debut 'Queen Of Glory,' Netflix's 'The Chair' & Doing It All". Essence. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  17. ^ "'The Chair' Star Nana Mensah Will Never Be Bored". W Magazine. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  18. ^ Goldhammer, Arthur (2011), "Why Feudal Prerogatives Had Become More Odious to the People in France Than Anywhere Else", Tocqueville: The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 31–38, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511977114.011, ISBN 9780521889803, retrieved 2022-03-09
  19. ^ "Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Nana Mensah – "Queen of Glory"". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  20. ^ "The 2021 Tribeca Festival Announces Award Winners". Tribeca. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  21. ^ "The 2021 Tribeca Festival Announces Award Winners". Tribeca. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  22. ^ Queen of Glory (2021) - IMDb, retrieved 2022-03-09
  23. ^ MVFF44: 'Queen of Glory' - Conversation with Director Nana Mensah, retrieved 2022-03-09
  24. ^ "Nana Mensah On Her Directorial Debut 'Queen Of Glory,' Netflix's 'The Chair' & Doing It All". Essence. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  25. ^ "'The Chair' Star Nana Mensah Will Never Be Bored". W Magazine. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  26. ^ Sedode, Pilot (2021-06-17). "Ghanaian-American Actress Nana Mensah On Her New Film And How She Pulled It Off". Kuulpeeps - Ghana Campus News and Lifestyle Site by Students. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  27. ^ Netflix [@netflix] (March 16, 2023). "Keri Russell stars in The Diplomat, a new series created by Debora Cahn (Homeland, The West Wing), premiering April 20. She plays a career diplomat who lands a high-profile job she's unsuited for, with seismic implications for her marriage and political future" (Tweet). Retrieved March 16, 2023 – via Twitter.
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