Megalyn Echikunwoke

Born in Spokane, Washington, she was discovered while performing in a theatrical production for an arts academy, and began working professionally at age 15, appearing in an episode of The Steve Harvey Show.[7] When Echikunwoke was four years old, her father, then attending law school in Spokane, died of liver cancer, stemming from his war-related medical problems.[9] In 2001, she starred in a lead role on the MTV soap opera Spyder Games as Cherish Pardee, a coffee house singer, which ran through the year.[2] She had a recurring role on TNT's Raising the Bar (2008–2009) as the love-interest of attorney Marcus McGrath, played by J. August Richards;[10] also in 2008, she appeared as a singer in the Leonard Chess biopic Who Do You Love?[9] She subsequently had a lead role on Almost Family, a FOX drama series chronicling three women who learn that they are siblings after a prominent fertility doctor reveals he has used his own sperm to father over 100 children with his patients.[18] In 2007, Echikunwoke, along with Justin Long, Olivia Wilde, and Kal Penn, successfully campaigned for 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.