actors and actresses from South Carolina

Kelsey Asbille Chow is an American actress. She is known for her role as Mikayla in the Disney XD sitcom Pair of Kings. From 2005 to 2009, she had a recurring role as Gigi Silveri on the drama One Tree Hill. She portrayed Tracy Stewart in MTV's Teen Wolf from 2015-2016. Chow was born to a Chinese father and an American mother in Columbia, South Carolina. Her father is the son of Chinese immigrants and her mother is a descendant of White Americans. She stated in 2010 that she wanted to be able to speak more fluently in Mandarin Chinese as well as be able to read traditional Chinese characters. She has two younger siblings: a brother who is two years younger and a sister who is eight years younger. She attended Hammond (High) School in Columbia, SC. Kelsey Chow's residence is in Los Angeles, California, but she lives in New York City where she attends Columbia University.

After gaining experience in community theatre, Chow got her first television role in 2005 where she played the recurring role of Gigi Silveri on One Tree Hill at the age of 13 appearing on the show until 2009.

In 2008, she guest starred on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. She also co-starred in the Disney Channel original film, Den Brother.

From 2010 to 2013, Chow co-starred as Mikayla on Disney XD original series, Pair of Kings.

In 2012, Chow had a small part in The Amazing Spider-Man, and was later cast in the feature film Run.

In 2014, she was cast in the Fox drama Hieroglyph. However, the series was canceled before it premiered.

She co-starred in the music video for Hayley Kiyoko's song "Girls Like Girls". Kelsey appeared in the recurring role of Tracy Stewart on season 5, part 1 of Teen Wolf, which premiered on June 29, 2015 and reprised her role for part 2, which premiered on January 5, 2016.

For all of her work up through 2017 she performed under the name Kelsey Chow. For Wind River and Yellowstone, in which she played Native American women, she appeared as Kelsey Asbille.

Moving from Orangeburg, South Carolina to the states capital, Columbia at the age of 2, Angell Conwell began her journey in entertainment at a very young age. After winning numerous awards locally and in the surrounding states of Georgia and North Carolina, she signed with Wilhelmina's Kids Division in New York. Always one to challenge herself, Angell begged for her parents permission to audition for August Wilson's highly acclaimed, "Fences". After landing the role she realized, commitment to pursuing a career in entertainment was exactly what she would set out to do.

At age 11, Angell and her mother, with only enough funds to stretch a couple months, relocated to Los Angeles for pilot season. It was quite an eye opener for her. After a very trying season, on the exact day she was scheduled to move back to Columbia, she booked the CBS pilot "On Our Own". Although, the pilot wasn't picked up to series, the network noticed this vibrant young actress and soon flew her back to California to audition for the role of Meshach Taylor's daughter on the CBS show "Dave's World". She landed the role.

At 17, John Singleton cast Angell in her first silver screen role as Kim in "Baby Boy" sharing the screen with Tyrese, Taraji P. Hensen & Omar Gooding. Immediately after, Conwell began filming the Lions Gate comedic remake "The Wash", and MGM's wildly popular "Soul Plane" alongside Kevin Hart and Sofia Vergara. She's guest starred and recurred on dozens of hit shows.

Angell was presented with Columbia, South Carolina's Key To The City on February 5, 2019. This day was also deemed Angell Conwell Day by Mayor Steven Benjamin.

J. Anthony Brown was born in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. He is known for xXx: State of the Union (2005), Drumline (2002) and Think Like a Man (2012).

Andy Dick is an American actor, producer and comedian. He is known for playing Boingo from Hoodwinked! (2005) and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011), Kramer from Inspector Gadget (1999), Mr. Sheepman from Clone High (2002), Mambo from Happily N'Ever After (2006), Dylan from The Reef (2006) and The Reef 2: High Tide (2012), Barry from Old School (2003), and Nuka from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) and The Lion Guard (2015). He was married to Ivone Kowalczyk and has 3 children.

Thomas Ellis Gibson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, as the youngest child of four to Charles M. and Beth Gibson. His mother was a social worker and his father was a progressive Democratic lawyer and state legislator. At a young age Thomas became interested in theater, and began performing in children's plays. He spent a summer as an intern at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival when he was 18, and the following year he began studying at Juilliard School Drama Division as a member of Group 14. He made his NY stage debut in David Hare's A Map of the World at the NY Shakespeare Festival, and went on to perform in many plays both off and on Broadway. He has also worked extensively in films and on television. He was twice nominated for a Golden Globe for his work on Dharma and Greg. Mr. Gibson is also an accomplished director both in the theater and on television. He also recently produced and starred in a short film that he co-wrote with his son JP, The Writer's Bible, which JP also directed and produced.

Slim, lovely, and sexy brunette looker Lauren Michelle Hill was born on June 27, 1979 in Columbia, South Carolina. Lauren has two brothers and a sister. Her mother owned a modeling agency. Hill started her modeling career as a child model for department store catalogs and posing for the art on Hasbro toy boxes. As a teen model, Lauren did ads for hair care products. Moreover, Hill was also a child actress who appeared in the movies, Made in Heaven (1987) and Heavyweights (1995). She attended the University of South Carolina, where she was a cheerleader and studied journalism. Lauren was spotted by a "Playboy" scout at a swimsuit competition in St. Croix. She graced the cover of the October, 2000 issue of "Playboy" and was chosen to be the Playmate of the Month in the February, 2001 issue of the famous men's magazine. Hill has appeared in several "Playboy" videos and posed for a handful of newsstand special editions. She's been featured in music videos for such artists as Bryan Adams, Weezer, Marc Anthony, and Justin Timberlake. In addition, Lauren has modeled for Guess? jeans, hosted Ultimate Fighting, Dub, and Supercross, and worked as a VJ for Ampd Mobile. Hill not only has made guest appearances on episodes of the TV shows, Baywatch (1989) and Entourage (2004), but has also appeared as herself on the reality TV series, Fear Factor (2001), Meet the Barkers (2005) and The Girls Next Door (2005).

Sandy-haired American actor Bo Hopkins was born William Mauldin Hopkins in Greenville, South Carolina, and was raised by his mother and grandmother after his father died when Bo was only nine years old. He joined the US Army at the age of 16. After serving his hitch he decided on acting as a career and gained experience in summer stock productions and guest spots in several TV episodes.

Hopkins broke into feature films as the ill-fated "Crazy Lee" in the Sam Peckinpah landmark western The Wild Bunch (1969), and was subsequently hired by Peckinpah for another none-too-bright role as a bank robber in The Getaway (1972) and then as a hired killer pairing up with CIA agent James Caan in The Killer Elite (1975). He was busy on television during the 1980s and 1990s, guest-starring on The Rockford Files (1974), Charlie's Angels (1976), The A-Team (1983), Hotel (1983) and Matt Houston (1982), and was featured on Dynasty (1981). In addition, he starred in dozens of feature films, such as Midnight Express (1978), American Graffiti (1973), The Bounty Hunter (1989), U Turn (1997) and Shade (2003). With his "good old boy" persona and Southern drawl, Hopkins often played lawmen, psychos, or oily villains.

He makes his home in Los Angeles with his wife Sian and son Matthew, and is a keen fisherman, fan of the Anaheim Angels baseball team, and enjoys raising koi fish.

Following her success as a top fashion model for the Ford Modeling Agency and Revlon cosmetics, Hutton was selected to play the only major female character in Paper Lion (1968). After a semi-successful starring role in American Gigolo (1980), Hutton's modeling career took a slide in the 1980s, and she was relegated to B-movie roles. Her modeling career was resuscitated in 1989 with photos in catalogs for Barneys and J. Crew. In 1995, she started a new job as talk show host.

Andie MacDowell was born Rosalie Anderson MacDowell on April 21, 1958 in Gaffney, South Carolina, to Pauline Johnston (Oswald), a music teacher, and Marion St. Pierre MacDowell, a lumber executive. She was enrolled at Winthrop College located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Initially discovered by a rep from Wilhelmina Models while on a trip to Los Angeles. Later signed on with Elite Model Management in New York City in 1978. Made debut film appearance in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). Went on to study method acting at the Actors Studio. Had commercial success with performances in Harold Ramis's Groundhog Day (1993) and Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).

Southern-bred Mary-Louise Parker was born on August 2, 1964 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the youngest of four children of Judge John Morgan Parker, and the former Caroline Louise Morell. She is of mostly Swedish, English, and Scottish descent. Her father's occupation took the family both around the country and abroad while growing up.

Parker showed potential in her teens and majored in acting in her college years, graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Beginning her acting career with a part on the daytime soap Ryan's Hope (1975), Mary decided to test the waters in New York, and after work on the off-Broadway stage in the late 1980s, made her Broadway debut with "Prelude to a Kiss" in 1990, where she won the Theatre World Award, the Clarence Derwent Award and a Tony nomination.

Films and TV quickly followed and she quickly gained attention. She provided both poignant and amusing as the token femme friend to a group of gay men in the AIDS drama Longtime Companion (1989), but really caught fire with her feisty, standout performance in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), holding her own against such female powerhouses as Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates and Mary Stuart Masterson. Dubbed by some as the "long-suffering girl next door," she played such noble offbeat miserables and cast-asides in Grand Canyon (1991), Naked in New York (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The Client (1994) Boys on the Side (1995), in which she was the AIDS victim this time, The Portrait of a Lady (1996), The Maker (1997), Let the Devil Wear Black (1999), Red Dragon (2002) and Pipe Dream (2001).

Preferring quality over quantity, she perfected her craft with offbeat roles in independent features and did not abandon her theater roots. She copped a slew of acting prizes for her stage work in "How I Learned to Drive" (1996) and, most notably, "Proof" in 2000, wherein she won nearly every award there is to attain, including the prestigious Tony. Her marquee name still does not command what it should, but a picture or production with Mary-Louise Parker in it usually guarantees a strong critical reception. Unmarried, she did enter into a longtime companionship with actor Billy Crudup after the twosome appeared opposite each other in the 1996 play, "Bus Stop". They went their separate ways in 2003, amid major controversy (she was pregnant at the time).

Mary Louise continues to divide her time equally and skillfully on TV, film and the stage. The powerful TV miniseries adaptation of Tony Kushner heralded award-winning Broadway play Angels in America (2003), directed by Mike Nichols, earned the actress supporting performance Golden Globe and Emmy awards. She also earned a Tony nomination for the Broadway show, "Reckless", a year later but truly turned heads and wowed audiences the year after that in the highly acclaimed 7-season Showtime series Weeds (2005), earning another Golden Globe and several Emmy nominations for her amazing performance as Nancy Botwin, a relatively naïve suburban housewife and mother who courts serious trouble with the law and drug cartels when she turns into a neighborhood drug dealer for sustenance after her husband dies suddenly.

Into the millennium, Mary has continued with compelling work in such films as RED 2 (2013), R.I.P.D. (2013), Jamesy Boy (2014), Behaving Badly (2014), Chronically Metropolitan (2016), Golden Exits (2017) and Red Sparrow (2018). TV roles have included recurring roles on The Blacklist (2013) and the sci-fi thriller Mr. Mercedes (2017).

Her first child is eighteen-year-old William Atticus Parker -- a director, writer and actor. Adopting a second child from Ethiopia, Mary Louise was acknowledged in 2013 for her significant contributions to Hope North, an organization that works in the educating and healing of young victims caught in Uganda's civil war. Her memoir-in-letters, Dear Mr. You, came out in 2015.

Will Patton was born in Charleston, South Carolina. His father, Bill Patton, is a playwright, acting/directing instructor, and Lutheran minister. Patton attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has won two OBIE awards for Best Actor -- for the off-Broadway plays "Fool for Love" (by Sam Shepard) and the Public Theatre production of "What Did He See?" (by Richard Foreman).

Leon Rippy was born on 30 October 1949 in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA. He is an actor, known for The Patriot (2000), Eight Legged Freaks (2002) and Deadwood (2004). He is married to Carol Rippy. They have two children.

Christopher Julius Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Rosalie (Tingman), a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped, and Julius Rock, a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman, whose own father was a preacher.

Rock has been in stand-up comedy for several decades. He made his big screen debut in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and spent three years on the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975). He does commercials for 1-800 Collect and Nike and covered the presidential campaign for the show Politically Incorrect (1993). He lives in Alpine, New Jersey.

Direct from Spartanburg, South Carolina, this tall, blonde actress has earned the respect of stage and film audiences alike for her many touching portrayals of matter-of-fact, down-to-earth Southern folk. For someone who first attracted attention as a hash-slinging replacement for Diane Ladd (herself a replacement for the ever-popular Polly Holliday) in the final, languishing years of the popular CBS sitcom Alice (1976), Celia Weston certainly has evolved into one of the more sought-after character performers of "Deep South" film drama.

Born December 14, 1951, and raised in South Carolina, Celia, along with her sister, enjoyed creating their own little world of characters, acting out small skits and later began appearing in local plays. She did not, however, meet the unanimous encouragement of her family when the one-time art and psychology major at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, decided to do an abrupt about-face and study acting. She earned an Artist Diploma in Drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to London to continue her training. More than determined, she eventually returned to the States in 1977 and studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof while slinging hash herself in New York City. In between, there was sporadic regional and off-off-Broadway work along with summer stock. At age 28, Celia made a big leap with her Broadway debut in "Loose Ends" (1979) starring Kevin Kline. Following her prime theater role in Edward Albee's "The Lady from Dubuque" in 1980 and a small part in Clint Eastwood's film Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), Hollywood showed her the money when she became the new Southern-fried waitress in town alongside Linda Lavin and Beth Howland on the "Alice" series.

Her character of Jolene was given rather short shrift during the four seasons (1981-1985) she appeared. Although Celia valiantly tried the invest the role with some sass, she was the newcomer and was too often overshadowed by the other two. Following the show's demise, she had a number of lean years before her luck changed again. In 1988, she was handed a couple of featured roles in the movies Stars and Bars (1988) and A New Life (1988). Her penchant for toned-down, unaffected realism was not overlooked. While interspersing theater roles with the sudden upswing of film parts now coming her way, she finally came into her own in both venues in the mid-to-late 1990s. After earning critical applause for her brittle dramatic turn as the backwoods mother of a murdered child in Dead Man Walking (1995), she went on to win an Outer Critics Award and Tony nomination for her Southern matron in Broadway's acclaimed "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" (1997).

Preferring art-house obscurity to mainstream popularity, Celia has stayed true for the most part with classier, character-driven drama and it has paid off in career dividends. An always interesting presence, her gals can tangle and backbite with the best of them or show true grit and/or extreme emotional fragility at times of unbearable sorrow. Celia has also played a variety of dialects over the years. A gregarious and eccentric turn as a possible mother to a searching Ben Stiller in the wonderful Flirting with Disaster (1996) led to her Civil War wife in Ride with the Devil (1999); her grieving, prejudicial Teutonic mother in Snow Falling on Cedars (1999); the part of Cate Blanchett's haughty aunt in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999); and the Southern belle-like mental patient in K-Pax (2001). In addition, her Southern roots have complimented such Tennessee Williams' plays as "Summer and Smoke" and "Suddenly Last Summer" on Broadway.

Into the millennium, Celia is still going strong. She has been a vibrant presence in such ensemble films as In the Bedroom (2001), Far from Heaven (2002) and The Village (2004). In 2005, she received one of her best roles in years as the dressed-down Southern matriarch in the obscure independent film Junebug (2005), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

More recent films include matronly parts in Joshua (2007), The Invasion (2007), The Box (2009), Knight and Day (2010), Goodbye to All That (2014), In the Radiant City (2016), Poms (2019) and Adam (2020). She has essayed just as many parts on both dramatic and comedic series TV, including regular/recurring roles on Our Willie (1913), Memphis Beat (2010), American Horror Story (2011), Modern Family (2009) and Hunters (2020).

Johnny Whitworth is an American actor. Born on October 31, in Charleston, SC. . Whitworth studied acting and performed in various productions throughout the south until at the age of 15, when he moved to Los Angeles from Dallas, Texas to pursue his acting career professionally.

Having appeared in over 50 film and television projects throughout his career, Whitworth has starred alongside some of Hollywood's most notable talents in such films as Limitless (2011), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Empire Records (1995), Gamer (2009) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker (1997), to name a few.

He's gone on to define his craft through a series of formal training, while evolving as a professional actor.

Johnny has said "waiting for opportunities might just be the the hardest part of the job".

Johnny Whitworth is a lifetime member of the actors studio.

Samuel Ernest Wright was an African-American actor and singer from Camden, South Carolina. He notably voiced Sebastian the Crab from Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise and Kron the Iguanodon from Dinosaur. He also played Mufasa in the original Broadway run of The Lion King. He passed away in May 2021 at California due to prostate cancer.

Logan is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. His parents are both drama teachers. His mother, Lowry Marshall, is the artistic director of Brown University's repertory theatre department.

Logan graduated with a Master's in Fine Arts from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts.

He made a few appearances in Law and Order, before landing recurring roles on The O.C. (2003) and 24 (2001). His breakthrough role came in Ridley Scott's Prometheus (2012).

Mackenzie Rosman was born on December 28, 1989 in Charleston, South Carolina. She is currently best-known for her role in the WB'S 7th Heaven (1996) as "Ruthie Camden", the angsty teen daughter of Eric and Annie. At 16, she has 10 solid years of acting experience under her belt: more than many actors twice her age. Outside of acting, she is an honor student preparing for her senior year of high school as7th Heaven (1996) ends its 10-year run. Her passion is riding horses as a competitive showjumper.

Jaimie Alexander was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but moved with her family to Grapevine, Texas, when she was four years old. She took theatre classes in grade school as a hobby but was kicked out in high school because she could not sing, and so she took up sports instead. At age 17 she substituted for a friend at a meeting with a scouting agency and she met her manager, Randy James, who sent her some scripts. After graduating from high school she moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue acting.

Her career was launched in 2003 when she was cast in the leading role of Hanna Thompson in the low-budget award-winning film The Other Side (2006). According to the DVD commentary, she was originally at the audition to help out by reading against the male actors, but director Gregg Bishop decided to cast her in the leading role after hearing her perform the lines. Her second role was in 2004 in Squirrel Trap (2004), in which she played the co-lead role of Sara. A year later she was cast as Jessi XX on the ABC Family series Kyle XY (2006), in which she played the role of a superhuman being created by scientists as a laboratory experiment. She was nominated for the Saturn Awards as "Best Supporting Actress on Television" for that role in 2008.

Her biggest role came in 2011, when she was cast as Lady Sif, a warrior goddess of Asgard, in the blockbuster from Marvel Comics, Thor (2011). She later reprised her role in its sequel, Thor: The Dark World (2013).

Viola Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television, and theater and has won rave reviews for her multitude of substantial and intriguingly diverse roles. Audiences across the United States and internationally have admired her for her work- including her celebrated, Oscar-nominated performances in The Help (2011), Doubt (2008), and her Oscar winning performance in Fences (2016). In 2015, Davis won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her work in ABC's How To Get Away With Murder, making her the first black woman in history to take home the award. In addition to acting, Viola currently produces alongside her husband and producing partner, Julius Tennon, through their JuVee Productions banner. Together they have produced award-garnering productions across theater, television, and film.

Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Fatima, a medical office worker, and Shoukath, a gastroenterologist. His family is from Tamil Nadu, India. He graduated from NYU as a business major in 2004. He graduated from the South Carolina Governor's School for Math and Science in Hartsville, SC. He previously attended Marlboro Academy, a private school in his home town of Bennettsville, SC.

Starting out in television like the hit comedy Parks and Recreation (2009), he later had bit parts in the films I Love You, Man (2009), Funny People (2009), and Get Him to the Greek (2010), among others, before co-starring in the comedy 30 Minutes or Less (2011).

Jessica Stroup was born October 23rd 1986, in Anderson, South Carolina, USA. At the age of 17, she received a scholarship to attend the University of Georgia, but turned it down to pursue acting. At only 17, she moved to Los Angeles and immediately took acting classes and received both modeling and acting offers. Since then, Jessica has starred in several hit horror movies including Prom Night (2008) and The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007), and is booked a lead role in the brand new spin-off 90210 (2008) as one of the lead characters, "Erin Silver". In her spare time, Jessica enjoys hanging out with friends and family, watching movies, playing volleyball and listening to music.

Anna Camp grew up in South Carolina and is the daughter of Dee and Thomas Camp. Anna graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2004. She then moved to New York City and has appeared in films and television shows since 2007. From 2009 to 2014, she starred in the series True Blood (2008) as Sarah Newlin. She had a main role in The Mindy Project (2012) from 2012 to 2013. In 2011, Camp appeared in the film The Help (2011). She starred in Pitch Perfect (2012) and Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), playing the character of Aubrey Posen. She was married to Michael Mosley from 2010 to 2013 and married Skylar Astin in 2016.

Shawnee Smith has consistently put her versatile talents to use in the film, television, theatrical and musical arenas with much success. Her impressive career includes a co-starring role on an award-winning television show, which is now strong in syndication, and a variety of memorable roles in hit feature films. She also toured America and the U.K. fronting a rather extreme rock band called "Fydolla Ho". Smith was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to Patricia Ann (Smoak), an oncology nurse, and James H. "Jim" Smith, a financial planner and U.S. Air Force pilot. Shawnee's achievements began early in her career when she appeared in the movie Annie (1982). As a young actress, she was awarded the Youth in Film Award for Best Actress in a television film for her role in the CBS drama Crime of Innocence (1985). She was honored with the Dramalogue Critics Award for her performance in the theatrical production "To Gillian on her 37th Birthday". In the same year, she received rave reviews for her co-starring role with Richard Dreyfuss at the Huntington Hartford Theatre in "The Hands of its Enemy". Shawnee then starred in The Blob (1988) for Columbia Pictures, in the hit comedy Summer School (1987) for Paramount Pictures and in Who's Harry Crumb? (1989), also for Columbia Pictures. Those roles would be followed by appearances in such highly-acclaimed films as Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Armageddon (1998), Desperate Hours (1990) and Breakfast of Champions (1999). Shawnee's television credits are equally as impressive, with a list that includes a regular role on the hit CBS comedy Becker (1998) as well as series regular roles on The Tom Show (1997) and Arsenio (1997). She appeared in the CBS television movies Something Borrowed, Something Blue (1997), I Saw What You Did (1988) and Face of Evil (1996), as well as the miniseries The Stand (1994) and The Shining (1997). Her recent film projects include The Almost Guys (2004), Saw (2004), a gritty, taut and terrifying film and the sequel Saw II (2005). Satisfied with pushing the extremes in her critically-acclaimed punk/metal band "Fydolla Ho", Shawnee is working on her first solo record with Queens of the Stone Age producer Chris Goss.

Lee Thompson Young was born as the son of Velma Love and Tommy Scott Young. When he was in second grade his parents split up and he went to live with his mother. At age ten, he portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King in a play called "A Night of Stars and Dreams". That's when Lee decided he wanted to be an actor. After doing community theater for a while, he traveled to New York during the spring break of 1996 and got himself an agent. He moved to NY in June but it wasn't until next year that he got to audition for the part of Jett Jackson. Lee filmed the pilot. He found out in June 1998 from Disney that the show had been picked up.