Keke Palmer

Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer is an American actress, singer, and television host born on August 26, 1993. She is best known for her versatile career spanning feature films, television series, studio albums, and hosting engagements. Over the course of her career, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards and earned nominations for an Actor Award and three Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2019, she was named to Time magazine's list of the most influential people in the world.

Palmer was born in Harvey, Illinois, and raised in nearby Robbins, Illinois. Her parents, Sharon and Lawrence "Larry" Palmer, met in drama school and worked as professional actors before entering other professions. She began singing in church and performing in local stage shows in Chicago before auditioning for a stage production of The Lion King in 2002.

Palmer made her film debut as a child actor in Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) and signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 2005. She achieved her breakthrough role as Akeelah Anderson in the 2006 drama film Akeelah and the Bee, for which she won a Black Reel Award and an NAACP Image Award. She followed this success with roles in Madea's Family Reunion (2006), Jump In! (2007), Cleaner (2007), and The Longshots (2008), while also releasing her debut studio album, So Uncool, in 2007.

From 2008 to 2011, Palmer gained television prominence playing the title role on the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP, writing and singing its theme song. She subsequently voiced Aisha in the Nickelodeon revival of Winx Club, headlined the television film Rags (2012), and portrayed Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas in the biographical film CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013). In 2014, Palmer made her Broadway debut as Ella in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, becoming the first African American actress to star in the title role of the production.

In subsequent years, Palmer appeared in television series such as Scream Queens, Berlin Station, and Scream. Her notable film work includes Hustlers (2019), Jordan Peele's science-fiction horror film Nope (2022)—which earned her the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress—and One of Them Days (2025). In addition to her acting roles, Palmer released multiple musical projects, including the extended plays Lauren (2016) and Virgo Tendencies (2020), alongside two additional studio albums in the 2020s.

Palmer has also established a prominent career in unscripted television and digital media. She hosted the daytime talk shows Just Keke in 2014 and Strahan, Sara and Keke from 2019 to 2020, and began hosting a reboot of Password in 2022. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for starring in her web comedy series Turnt Up with the Taylors. Beyond broadcast television, Palmer launched the digital platform KeyTV Network in 2022, hosts the podcast Baby, This is Keke Palmer, and authored the books I Don't Belong to You (2017) and Master of Me (2024).