Sola Bamis

Sola Bamis was an American actress and model who switched paths in life from doctor to artist and quickly made a name for herself on both stage and screen. Born and raised in Miami, FL to Nigerian immigrant parents, Bamis originally planned on becoming a doctor. She received a BA in Chemistry from the University of Miami, but realized her senior year that her real passion lied in acting. After graduation, Bamis moved to Los Angeles, where she received her MFA in acting from the California Institute of the Arts. Years of stage roles followed, before Bamis made her screen debut in the short film "Where the Sun Don't Shine" (2008). She appeared in another short, "Unmanned" (2011), before embarking on a run of TV appearances in such short-lived series as "Jane by Design" (Freeform, 2012), "Perception" (TNT, 2012-15), "Mistresses" (ABC, 2013-16), and "Killer Women" (ABC, 2014). Bamis earned her breakout role when she was cast as a series regular on the final season of "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007-2015), portraying the unabashedly feminist secretary, Shirley. She followed up this groundbreaking role with an appearance on the TV series adaptation of the 80s buddy cop classic "Lethal Weapon" (FOX, 2016-), and with another series regular gig, playing Ayo on the sci-fi crime drama "Stitchers" (Freeform, 2015-17). Following that series' cancellation, Bamis played a real person for the first time, taking on the role of Afeni Shakur, civil rights activist and mother to legendary rapper Tupac Shakur on the limited series "Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G." (USA Network, 2018).