Megalyn Echikunwoke Biography

Fast Facts

• Is descended from a Nigerian tribal chief of the Igbo tribe on her father's side
• Made her screen acting debut in the TV movie "Creature" in 1998
• Her manager discovered her while she was performing a monologue at an arts-oriented summer camp at the age of 14
• Quote: "I definitely am drawn to strong females who are successful, smart women because I am a woman like that․ I think it's important to portray those kinds of women on film and television․"
• Has played a wide array of characters, appearing on such varied fair as period sitcoms and science fiction dramas
• Best known for her role as Dr․ Tara Price in "CSI: Miami" and as Cherish Pardee in "Spyder Games․"
• Did all her own singing in the independent film "Who Do You Love," in which she played a lounge singer who was addicted to heroin
• Her hobbies include singing, surfing, dancing and traveling
• Though she was born in Spokane, Wash․, and neither of her parents were Native American, she was raised in Chinle, Ariz․, on a Navajo Native American Reservation
• Was 10 years old when she went to a shopping mall for the first time