Cush Jumbo

With her quick eyes and knowing screen presence, Cush Jumbo quickly became a favorite amongst TV fans in her native Britain. Born in Lambeth, Jumbo's father, Marx, was a refugee from Nigeria who sought asylum in England during the Biafran War. In a reversal of traditional gender roles, Marx stayed home and cared for Cush and her five siblings while their mother, Alex, worked as a psychiatric nurse. By age three, Jumbo was taking dance lessons and by eleven, she was enrolled at the Francis Cooper School of Dance. Eventually, Jumbo's interest in performing widened to include acting. She studied at the BRIT School for Performing Arts in Croydon and earned her BA in acting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama before launching her professional career. She appeared in a production of "Brixton Stories" at The Lyric Hammersmith in 2006. She was then cast on the series "Harley Street" (ITV, 2008-) in 2008, and on the "Doctor Who" (BBC, 2005-) spin-off "Torchwood" (BBC, 2006-2011) in 2009. These developments quickly increased Jumbo's notoriety, but she remained interested in the theater, appearing in a production of "As You Like It" at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester that earned her a 2012 Ian Charleson Award, and playing Mark Antony in an all-female production of "Julius Caesar" at the Donmar Warehouse. Jumbo also wrote and starred in the one-woman-play "Josephine and I" about singer Josephine Baker at the Bush Theatre in London, and her performance won the Emerging Talent Award at the London Evening Standard. In 2015, Jumbo took her talents across the Atlantic, taking on the recurring role of Lucca Quinn on "The Good Wife" (CBS, 2009-16).