Teyana Taylor

Teyana Me Shay Jacqueli Shumpert (' Taylor'''; born December 10, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, model, dancer, choreographer, and music video director. After choreographing the video for Beyoncé's 2006 single "Ring the Alarm," she signed a recording contract with the Neptunes' Star Trak Entertainment, an imprint of Interscope Records to embark on a career as an recording artist the following year. Taylor appeared on MTV's ''My Super Sweet 16'' prior to the release of her 2008 debut single, "Google Me." Despite lukewarm commercial response, she later gained wider attention in 2010 for her uncredited guest performances on the songs "Dark Fantasy" and "Hell of a Life" by Kanye West, from his highly-acclaimed album ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' (2010). She parted ways with Star Trak and Interscope in favor of signing with West's GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings two years later.

The following year, she appeared on the GOOD Music compilation album ''Cruel Summer'' (2012), which peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut studio album, ''VII'' (2014) received positive critical response and peaked within the top 20 of the ''Billboard'' 200, along with her second and third studio albums, ''K.T.S.E.'' (2018) and ''The Album'' (2020); the latter peaked in the top ten of the chart, while ''K.T.S.E.'' spawned the single "Gonna Love Me" (remixed featuring Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Raekwon), which received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In her acting career, Taylor made her film debut in the 2010 comedy ''Stomp the Yard: Homecoming'', and appeared in the Tyler Perry film, ''Madea's Big Happy Family'' the following year. Taylor had roles in two seasons of the Lee Daniels television series ''Star'' (2017–18), and the Amazon Prime film ''Coming 2 America'' (2021). She and her then-husband, Iman Shumpert were given the reality television series ''Teyana and Iman'' by VH1, which aired from 2020 until 2023. She received critical acclaim and Oscar buzz for her starring performance in the 2023 film ''A Thousand and One''.

In her other ventures, Taylor has been credited with music video directing under the name "Spike Tee". She has done so for artists including herself, Diddy, Schoolboy Q, and Queen Naija. She won the BET Award for Video Director of the Year in 2020 and 2023. Provided by Wikipedia