Yvonne Orji
Yvonne Anuli Orji (born 2 December 1983) is a Nigerian-American actress and comedian. She is best known for her role in the television series "Insecure" (2016–2021), for which she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and three NAACP Image Awards. Life and career. Orji was born on 2 December 1983, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, and grew up in Laurel, Maryland in the United States. She spent her high school years in the small town of Lititz, Pennsylvania where she attended Linden Hall, the oldest all-girls boarding school in the country. Raised Catholic , Orji is now a devout Protestant and has stated that she will remain a virgin until marriage. She earned her BA in liberal arts and a master's degree in public health at George Washington University as well. Orji's parents expected her to become a doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, or engineer. However, she was inspired to do comedy as a graduate student when she performed stand-up in the talent portion of a beauty pageant. After graduate school, in 2009, Orji moved to New York City to pursue a career in comedy. In 2015, she landed the role of Molly  on "Insecure" without an agent or any real acting experience. In 2021, she began development on a series for Disney+ titled "First Gen". The series is based on her personal life and is produced by Oprah Winfrey and David Oyelowo. Orji is the author of the book "Bamboozled by Jesus". She gave a speech at TEDxWilmingtonSalon in 2017 titled, "The wait is sexy". In the talk, she explains her reasons for abstaining from sex before marriage. Charitable efforts. Outside of her creative work, she is dedicated to philanthropy. In 2008 and 2009 she spent six months working in post-conflict  Liberia, with Population Services International (PSI), an NGO that utilizes social marketing in the adoption of healthy behaviors. While in Liberia, she worked with a group of talented youth to help build a mentoring program as well as a weekly talk show that helped educate and prevent the spread of teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. She currently lends her time and voice as a (RED) Ambassador, a Literacy Champion for Jumpstart and working with JetBlue for Good.