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Alexandra Shipp
Alexandra Shipp by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Shipp at the 2019 WonderCon
Born
Alexandra Ruth Shipp

Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active 2009–present

Alexandra Ruth Shipp is an American actress and singer who rose to prominence for portraying singer Aaliyah in the Lifetime television film Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014) and Kimberly Woodruff in the Oscar-nominated film Straight Outta Compton (2015).

Shipp is best known for playing Storm in the X-Men franchise, starting with X-Men: Apocalypse, Abby Suso in the 2018 romantic comedy Love, Simon, and Susan Wilson in musical drama tick, tick... BOOM!.

Early life

Shipp was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Her mother is a Kundalini yoga teacher, and her father is a musician. Her father is black and her mother is white. She has two brothers, James and Jordan, and a stepsister, Kasia. Shipp was educated at Squaw Peak Elementary School, Arizona School for the Arts, and St. Mary's Catholic High School in Phoenix. She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to pursue an acting career.

Career

In 2009, Shipp made her acting debut with a minor role in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. She went on to star in the third season of Nickelodeon's mystery teen drama series House of Anubis, playing the role of KT Rush.

In 2014, Shipp gained attention for her roles as Dani Raymond in the VH1 television film sequel Drumline: A New Beat and Aaliyah Haughton, the title role, in the Lifetime television film Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B. For the latter performance, Shipp also sang. She next portrayed Ice Cube's wife, Kimberly Woodruff, in the biographical drama film Straight Outta Compton, which chronicled the careers of hip hop group N.W.A. In 2016, she co-starred in Bryan Singer's superhero film X-Men: Apocalypse as Ororo Munroe/Storm, a weather-controlling mutant previously portrayed by Halle Berry. In 2018, she starred alongside Nick Robinson and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. in Love, Simon and Kathryn Prescott and Lucy Hale in Dude, both high school comedy films.

She reprised the role of Ororo Munroe / Storm in the 2019 film Dark Phoenix, and, the same summer, also starred as Sasha Arias in the Shaft sequel. In 2021 she starred in the film adaptation of tick, tick... BOOM! as Susan.

Shipp is set to star in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. It is scheduled for release on July 21, 2023.

Personal life

Shipp publicly came out as a member of the LGBT community in June 2021, though she did not specify a label.

Filmography

Key
Not yet released Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Valentina
2015 Straight Outta Compton Kimberly Woodruff
2016 X-Men: Apocalypse Ororo Munroe / Storm
2017 Tragedy Girls McKayla Hooper
2018 Spinning Man Anna
2018 Love, Simon Abby Suso
2018 Dude Amelia
2018 Deadpool 2 Ororo Munroe / Storm Uncredited cameo
2019 A Dog's Way Home Olivia
2019 Dark Phoenix Ororo Munroe / Storm
2019 Shaft Sasha
2019 Jexi Cate Finnegan
2020 All the Bright Places Kate
2020 Endless Riley Jean Stanheight
2020 Father of the Bride, Part 3(ish) Rachel Banks Short film
2021 Silk Road Julia
2021 Tick, Tick... Boom! Susan
2022 Space Oddity Daisy Taylor
2022 Kung Fury 2 Not yet released Rey Porter Post-production
2023 Barbie Not yet released TBA Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Switched at Birth Ashley Episode: "Dance Amongst Daggers"
2012 Victorious Aleese Episode: "The Gorilla Club"
2013 House of Anubis KT Rush 41 episodes
2013 House of Anubis: Touchstone of Ra KT Rush TV special
2013 Occult Alana Hutchins Unsold A&E pilot
2013 Awkward Abby Martin Episode: "Less Than Hero"
2014 Ray Donovan Tiffany Episode: "Yo Soy Capitan"
2014 Days of Our Lives Mary Beth 3 episodes
2014 Drumline: A New Beat Dani Raymond Television film
2014 Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B Aaliyah Haughton Television film
2015 Your Family or Mine Lucy Episode: "Pilot"
2020 Make It Work! Herself Television special

Video games

Year Title
2019 Telling Lies

Music videos

Year Title Artist(s) Role
2021 "Chance" Hayley Kiyoko Love interest

Discography

Singles

Title Year Album
"Dirty Long Sleeve Shirt" 2021 0TBA

Promotional singles

Title Year Album
"30/90"
(with Andrew Garfield, Joshua Henry, Vanessa Hudgens, Robin de Jesús and Mj Rodriguez)
2021 Tick, Tick... Boom! (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)

Music videos

Title Year Director
"Dirty Long Sleeve Shirt" 2021 John Duff

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2016 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Breakout Star X-Men: Apocalypse Nominated
2017 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Squad X-Men: Apocalypse Nominated

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Alexandra Shipp para niños

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