Sonja Sohn facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sonja Sohn
Sohn in 2011
Born	Sonja Denise Williams Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Actress activist filmmaker
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Adam Plack ​ ​ (m. 2003; div. 2011)​
Children	2

Sonja Denise Plack, known as Sonja Sohn, is an American actress, filmmaker, and activist. She is famous for playing Detective Kima Greggs in the TV show The Wire (2002–2008) on HBO. She also starred in and helped write the 1998 movie Slam. You might also know her as Samantha Baker from the ABC series Body of Proof. Sonja Sohn also started a program in Baltimore called reWIRED for Change. This program helps young people who are at risk and have been involved in criminal behavior.

Early Life and Education

Sonja Denise Williams was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. Her mother was Korean and her father was Black. They met when her father was in South Korea after the Korean War.

She went to and graduated from Warwick High School in Newport News, Virginia.

Career in Acting and Filmmaking

Sonja Sohn (left) with her co-stars from The Wire, Jamie Hector (middle) and Michael K. Williams

Sonja Williams became known professionally as Sonja Sohn. Before she became an actress, she was a slam poet. This means she performed her own poetry on stage. A filmmaker named Marc Levin saw her perform and offered her a role in his movie Slam. She also wrote lyrics and helped write the script for this film. Slam won a big award called the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

After Slam, Sonja Sohn had smaller roles in movies like Shaft and Bringing Out the Dead. She also appeared in independent films such as Perfume, G, and The Killing Zone.

For five seasons, she played a main character, Detective Kima Greggs, in the HBO series The Wire. She sometimes found it hard to remember her lines during the first season and even thought about quitting. She also appeared as a guest star on many episodes of Cold Case as "Toni Halstead". In 2008, she won an award for best supporting television actress at the Asian Excellence Awards for her role in The Wire.

She had a supporting role in the movie Step Up 2: The Streets. From 2008 to 2009, she was a guest star in the ABC series Brothers & Sisters. In 2010, she appeared in an episode of the CBS show The Good Wife. In 2011, she was a guest star on Bar Karma. She played Detective Samantha Baker in the first two seasons of the medical drama Body of Proof, which started on ABC in 2011.

Sonja Sohn joined the second season of The Originals. She played a witch named Lenore, also known as Esther Mikaelson.

In 2017, Sonja Sohn directed her first documentary film for HBO called Baltimore Rising. This film was about the 2015 Baltimore protests and how people in the community organized to respond to police violence. In 2021, she directed another documentary called The Slow Hustle. This film was about the death of a Baltimore detective, Sean Suiter.

Sonja Sohn also appeared in the ABC police drama Will Trent. She plays Amanda, who is the head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the boss of the main character, Will Trent. The first episode aired on January 3, 2023.

Activism and Community Work

Sonja Sohn has been involved in political activism for a long time. For example, she helped with Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. In 2009, she took a break from acting to focus on helping with social issues.

She is the founder and CEO of reWIRED for Change, a program based in Baltimore. This program helps young people who are at risk and have been involved in criminal activity. The program uses episodes of The Wire as a way to teach. It encourages young people to think about their lives and past actions. Other actors and writers from The Wire also help with the program.

In 2011, she received the Woman of the Year award from the Harvard Black Men's Forum.

Personal Life

Sonja Sohn has two daughters, Sophia and Sakira. In 2003, she married didgeridoo player Adam Plack. They are now divorced.

Filmography

Film

Television

Director

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Sonja Sohn para niños