Lauren Keyana “Keke” Palmer
August 26, 1993
She is an American actress, singer and television personality. Known for playing leading and character roles in comedy and drama productions, she has received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, five NAACP Image Awards, and nominations for a Daytime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Time magazine included her on their list of most influential people in the world in 2019.
Palmer made her acting debut in Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004). She later appeared in the television film The Wool Cap (2004), and had her breakthrough starring in the drama film Akeelah and the Bee (2006). Her debut studio album, So Uncool, was released in 2007, and she progressed as a child actress with roles in Madea’s Family Reunion (2006), Jump In! (2007), The Longshots (2008), and Shrink (2009). She played a number of roles on Nickelodeon, such as the title character in the sitcom True Jackson, VP (2008–2011), providing the voice of Aisha in the Nickelodeon revival of Winx Club (2011–2014), and headlining the television film Rags (2012).
Palmer made her transition to mature roles with the VH1 biographical film CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013). From 2014 to 2015 she starred as Ella in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella on Broadway. She has since starred in television series such as the Fox satirical horror series Scream Queens (2015–2016), the Epix drama series Berlin Station (2017–2019), the slasher series Scream (2019), and the Facebook Watch series Turnt Up with the Taylors (2021) for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award. She also starred in films such as Animal (2014), Pimp (2018), Hustlers (2019) and Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022).
Since So Uncool, Palmer has released three extended plays: Lauren (2016), Virgo Tendencies, Pt. 1 (2019) and Virgo Tendencies, Pt. 2 (2020). She hosted the talk show Just Keke (2014) and co-hosted the talk show Strahan, Sara & Keke (2019–2020), the latter of which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.
Palmer works with the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of the American charity Cool To Be Smart program, speaking to children about the importance of learning. She is also a supporter of Urban Farming and the Girl Scouts. She has worked with the YWCA and Saving Our Daughters. As of 2010, Palmer has been a representative for the Saving Our Daughters project, an anti-bullying campaign. She is a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. She was included in the Time’s 100 Next list in November 2019, which “spotlights 100 rising stars who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, science, health and more.” In 2020, she marched in Hollywood, California, as part of the George Floyd protests. That same year, she addressed the movement during her opening monologue at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards. Palmer has said she does not want her sexuality defined by labels and said that people should be fluid with labeling themselves, as their identities can change. In February 2017, during an interview on The Wendy Williams Show, when asked by Williams whether she was sexually fluid, Palmer replied, “Yeah, I like whoever loves me. Love is defined by the individual, and what I feel today is not what I necessarily may feel five years from now. I don’t want to limit myself to one feeling or one idea of anything.” She has struggled with anxiety and depression. In 2019, as part of the #YouKnowMe campaign, she shared via Twitter that she had an abortion at the age of 24. Palmer has been dealing with polycystic ovary syndrome her entire life.While hosting Saturday Night Live on December 3, 2022, Palmer announced she was pregnant with her first child with boyfriend Darius Jackson. Their son was born in February 2023. The couple broke up later in 2023.