Shamika Cotton is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is perhaps best known to television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 viewers as Michael Lee

Michael Lee (The Wire)

Michael Lee is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Tristan Wilds. He is a middle school pupil and is friends with Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is more soft-spoken than his friends, and appears to have a leadership role among his peers...

's drug-addicted mother Raylene Lee in the acclaimed HBO

Home Box Office

HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...

 series The Wire

The Wire (TV series)

The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...

.

Career

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, Shamika Cotton graduated from Cincinnati's competitive School for the Creative and Performing Arts

School for the Creative and Performing Arts

The School for the Creative and Performing Arts or SCAPA is an arts-oriented school in Fayette County Public Schools in Lexington, Kentucky which provides students who are especially talented and/or interested in the arts the opportunity to further develop and enhance their abilities...

. In 2006, Cotton appeared on the "I Wanna Be A Soap Star

I Wanna Be a Soap Star

I Wanna Be a Soap Star is a reality television series which debuted on the cable channel SOAPnet in 2004. The show is hosted by All My Children star and ex-Dancing with the Stars participant, Cameron Mathison. It is based on the British reality series Soapstars.-I Wanna Be a Soap Star:The first...

" reality series to good reviews, and her performances from the show were also highlighted on Entertainment Tonight

Entertainment Tonight

Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...

.

In November, 2007, Cotton launched a weekly videocast on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 entitled the “Shamika Chronicles”, a series that follows her life and offers a realistic look at the daily life and work of an aspiring actress.

External links