Biography
Ilfenesh Hadera is an American actress. She was born on 1 December 1985 in New York and raised in Harlem. She attended the Harlem School of the Arts and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, and received an MFA in text and performance studies from RADA / King's College London.
Hadera made her acting debut in the film 1/20 (2010). She has collaborated frequently with director Spike Lee, appearing in Oldboy (2013), Chi-Raq (2015), She's Gotta Have It (2017–2019) and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Her other credits include the role of Carmen Febles in the miniseries Show Me a Hero (2015), Stephanie Holden in Baywatch (2017) and Mayme Johnson in Godfather of Harlem (2019–).
Her father, Asfaha Hadera, an Ethiopian refugee, founded the African Services Committee, a Harlem-based organisation supporting African immigrants; her mother, Kim Nichols, serves as co-director.
