Alexandra Shipp

Alexandra Shipp first became a famous name when she was cast in the role of the beloved R&B singer Aliyah in the TV movie "Aliyah: The Princess of R&B" (Lifetime, 2014). Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Shipp always had a keen interest in storytelling, and began participating in youth theater at age 10. She was 17 when she booked her first major on-screen role in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel" (2009) and decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a full-time acting career. After a few minor appearances on shows like "Switched at Birth" (ABC Family, 2014-17), Shipp landed her first big break, joining the cast of the Nickelodeon show "House of Anubis" (Nickelodeon, 2011-13) for the show's third season. The series wrapped just in time for Shipp to land the lead role in "Aliyah: The Princess of R&B," which she felt particularly well prepared for, having been raised in a musical environment thanks to her father, jazz percussionist James Shipp. Shipp also starred in the TV movie "Drumline: A New Beat" (VH1, 2014) that same year. The following year found her playing Kim, wife to rap artist Ice Cube in the acclaimed biopic "Straight Outta Compton" (2015) before auditioning for a major franchise: the "X-Men" series. Shipp read for the role of weather-controlling mutant Storm several times, and eventually learned that she had won the part via a Tweet from director Bryan Singer. She made her superhero debut the next year in "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016). She would memorably appear in the drama "Love, Simon" (2018) in 2018 before reprising the role of Storm for the next film in the "X-Men" franchise, "Dark Phoenix" (2019). 2019 also found Shipp playing a supporting role alongside Samuel L. Jackson in "Shaft" (2019) and with Adam Devine in the comedy "Jexi" (2019).