page_title: Sonequa Martin-Green
section_title: Television
hierarchical_section_title: Sonequa Martin-Green / Career / Television
caption_attribution_description: English: Sonequa Martin-Green speaking at San Diego Comic Con 2016.
context_page_description: Sonequa Chaunté Martin-Green is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her television roles as Michael Burnham, the main character in the web television series Star Trek: Discovery, and as Sasha Williams on The Walking Dead. Before that, she had starred in several independent films before gaining her first recurring role as Courtney Wells on The Good Wife. Later, she had recurring roles as Tamara in Once Upon a Time and Rhonda in New Girl.
context_section_description: Martin-Green has had various guest and recurring roles in TV shows. She made her television debut in 2008, appearing on NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Kiana Richmond. She then gained her first recurring role on Army Wives as Kanessa Jones the following year. In 2009, she received the role of Courtney Wells on The Good Wife, her first recurring role playing an adult character as opposed to playing a teenager with her previous roles in both film and television. She appeared on the show for two years before making two more appearances in Gossip Girl and NYC 22 in 2011.
  In 2012, she was cast in a recurring role on The Walking Dead as Sasha, the sister of Tyreese (Chad Coleman), an original character, exclusive to the television series. Martin-Green auditioned for the role of Michonne albeit with a pseudonym due to the secrecy of the auditioning process. When Danai Gurira, who Martin-Green said was "the perfect choice", was cast, former showrunner Glen Mazzara still wanted Martin-Green to be a part of the show and decided to create a role specifically for her instead. Martin-Green explained: "[Sasha] was supposed to be a recurring character and as we kept going forward, they picked up my option to be a regular. It's very rare and I'm still quite dumbfounded about it but Glen and I hit it off and I still appreciate him. He wanted to work with me and wrote Sasha for me." She was promoted to a series regular for season 4 with Emily Kinney and Coleman.
  After auditioning for the role of Michonne, she read the first three volumes of the graphic novels in preparation for the television series. Knowing they were different, she chose not to continue reading the comic book series to avoid being aware of future storylines that may occur on the television series. Martin-Green's performance as Sasha, particularly in the fifth season and  seventh season, has received favorable reviews.
  After filming for the third season of The Walking Dead ended, Martin-Green was cast in the second season of Once Upon a Time playing the recurring role of Tamara, a woman determined to rid the world of magic. She returned briefly in the third season before returning to her regular role as Sasha on The Walking Dead. As of the first episode of sixth season, Martin-Green's name appears in the opening credits.
  In December 2016, her role as the lead actor of Star Trek: Discovery as a  lieutenant commander of the USS Discovery was made public. She debuted as First Officer Michael Burnham in "The Vulcan Hello" on September 24, 2017.
caption: Sonequa Martin-Green at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International for The Walking Dead.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:25 22:36:31", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1152", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1266", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10116", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:07:22 04:40:38", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:07:22 04:40:38", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "61/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "420", "EXIF SubSecTime": "01", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "01", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "01", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5760", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3840", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1920000/487", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "320000/81", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "182029018027", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[420, 420, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x III", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}