

Cast & creator
Best known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Blacklist, Elementary
Zainab Jah was raised in Sierra Leone and returned to London at the age of ten. After graduating from London Contemporary Dance, she toured as a modern dancer, eventually trading dance for acting. She appeared in numerous plays, winning rave reviews for shows both on and off-Broadway including the Tony-nominated Eclipsed, and won Best Actress from the Philadelphia Critic’s Circle for Hamlet at the Wilma Theatre. Her work in film & TV includes anti-corruption minister Aminata Sissoko in the second season of Deep State, Aby Bah in Homeland, and Harriet Tubman in Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird. Other work includes appearances on Blindspot, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the EPIX series Deep State, and the Sundance hit Farewell Amor. Most recently, she was featured in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She can currently be seen in the John Wick spin-off mini-series The Continental.
Also known as: 자이냅 자
14
film credits
9
television credits
21
1999–2026 · acting roles
7.1
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Across film & television
Showing 23 of 23 credits

Homeless Person
1999
Aïssa Joachim
2013
Vicki
2012
Aby Bah
2011
President Botros
2015
Ndidi Idoko
2021
Grace Singleton
2021
Mining Tribe Elder
2022
Adama Gueye
2022
Mazie
2023
Harriet Tubman
2020
Older Mack
2023
Adrian
2000
Helayne Specter (segment 'Healing')
2015
Esther
2020
Etweda Kamara
2024
The Advisor
2026Writer

Sedalia / Mom
2021
Elsa
2022Zainab
2016Sherman
2022Director
2023