Teyana Taylor

Taylor grew up in Harlem as the only child of Nikki Taylor, who also became her longtime manager, and Tito Smith. Through her parents, she is of African American and Trinidadian heritage.

She began dating professional basketball player Iman Shumpert in 2013. The couple married on October 1, 2016. They had two daughters together, born in 2015 and 2020. Shumpert delivered both children during emergency home births in their bathroom. Taylor announced their separation in September 2023, and their divorce was finalized in 2024.

In July 2025, Taylor enrolled at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts to study professional cooking. The following month, she underwent surgery to remove a noncancerous growth from her vocal cords.

Taylor broke into the industry as a teenager through her choreography work for Beyoncé. Pharrell Williams signed her to Star Trak Entertainment in 2007. That same year, she appeared on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 and danced in Jay-Z's "Blue Magic" music video. Her debut commercial single, "Google Me", arrived in February 2008 ahead of her mixtape From a Planet Called Harlem.

In 2010, she visited Kanye West in the studio to show him fashion pieces and ended up humming vocal lines that caught his ear. West put her in a booth alone. She created the intro and chorus for "Dark Fantasy" and contributed vocals to "Hell of a Life".

Taylor sought a release from Star Trak in 2012 to gain creative independence. She remained on warm terms with Williams, whom she viewed as an older brother. Later that year, she signed a joint venture with West's GOOD Music through Def Jam. She sang on several tracks for the 2012 compilation album Cruel Summer, including "To the World", "Sin City", and a duet with John Legend titled "Bliss".

Taylor released her debut studio album, VII, in November 2014. It debuted atop the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In August 2016, West premiered the music video for his single "Fade" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Taylor performed a solo dance routine in the video, drawing comparisons to Flashdance. Her performance earned the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography in 2017.

She followed with the eight-track album K.T.S.E. in 2018. Her third release, The Album, arrived in June 2020. The 23-track project featured guest appearances from Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Missy Elliott. It gave Taylor her first top-ten entry on the Billboard 200.

Frustrated by label disputes, Taylor threatened retirement in late 2020 to protect her mental health. She eventually returned with her fourth album, Escape Room, in August 2025. The project earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Album and featured interludes narrated by actors including Regina King, Sarah Paulson, and Issa Rae.

Taylor made early screen appearances in Stomp the Yard: Homecoming and Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family. Her acting profile shifted with A.V. Rockwell's 2023 drama A Thousand and One. Her portrayal of Inez, a mother navigating life in a rapidly gentrifying New York City, won the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review.

Major roles followed. In 2025, she played the revolutionary Perfidia in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. The role earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. On television, she joined Ryan Murphy's legal drama series All's Fair.

Behind the camera, Taylor directs under the moniker Spike Tey. She has helmed music videos for artists like Lil Durk, Queen Naija, and Monica, winning BET Video Director of the Year honors in 2020, 2023, and 2026. She also competed on season seven of The Masked Singer in 2022, winning the competition as "Firefly".