In Television, Yolonda is currently in production on her 6th season as series regular Jada Washington, on Lena  Waithe's The Chi (Showtime). The series explores the  humanity behind the headlines sensationalizing the South  Side of Chicago.  In the past year she’s also had some  exciting opportunities not just as an actor, but as a writer/director, joining the WGA for writing on episodes of   American Gigolo (Showtime)  where she recurred as Lizzie opposite Jon Bernthal, and on  AMC's ALLBLK  Terror Lake Drive.  Other recognizable characters Yolonda  has played in television include, ‘Robyn Crawford‘ in Angela Basset’s Whitney, Dana Lyndsey in David Simon’s Treme, ‘Ms. Green’ in the Baz Luhrmann’s hit Netflix series, The Get Down and ‘Claudia’ in How To Get Away With Murder. 

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In Theater, she's a company member of NY’s prestigious LAByrinth Theater Co, and has a strong working relationship with David Mamet who’s written parts for her in his HBO TV movie Phil Spector and on his series The Unit. She also performed during the pandemic in his last production Four American Women and in April 2022, she participated in an all-female table reading of Glengarry Glen Ross in NYC destined for Broadway. She recently closed the world premiere of Lisa Langford’s How Blood Go at Steppenwolf Theatre, produced by Congo Square in Chicago.

In Film, Yolonda recently wrapped the highly anticipated, action feature THUG , starring opposite Liam Neeson. Her past projects include Cannes favorite, Annie Silverstein’s Bull; Carol Morley’s Out of Blue; John Sayles’ Go For Sisters (Spirit Award Nominee), Lila & Eve opposite Viola Davis, Yelling To The Sky, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works; Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There; John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus; Denzel Washington’s award-winning Antwone Fisher and HBO’s Stranger Inside (Gotham Award Winner/ Spirit Award, Black Reel Award Nominee)

 

Directing, Yolonda’s long diverse acting career led her to
take the natural progression of directing. In 2013, she made her directorial debut with the hybrid music video/short film Breaking Night, about a young girl taking control of her destiny. The short music film, went on to become the on-air music video for the famed classic rock single, Blinded By The Light written by Bruce Springsteen and performed by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Since then, she’s been developing some really exciting projects as a writer/director, for film and television.

Humanitarian Work
A personal highlight for Yolonda came in season four of The Chi, when her character Jada was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ross took it upon herself to learn more about the effects of cancer on the women who are fighting the disease everyday, primarily women of color. She visited, then began working with the grassroots organizations in Chicago, (CHET, Tatisa C Joiner Foundation, Equal Hope) that are helping to shrink health care disparities for women of color. The effects of
Yolonda’s powerful portrayal moved viewers, so much so, that a 100k gift was made by Rhonda Feinberg, on behalf of Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, to the cancer organizations Ross worked with. This generated the “Beauty Is Me” gala, that Yolonda put together to celebrate and raise awareness to the hard working grass root organizations she worked with during “Breast Cancer Awareness” month, . It also gave Yolonda and the organizations the opportunity to thank the Feinbergs for their generous gift. At the event, Yolonda, an avid painter and photographer, unveiled portraits she took of several members to capturing their strength and beauty at different stages of their cancer journey. The event was open to the public and warmly received. Prints can be purchased on the SHOP page. A portion of the proceeds go to the foundations Yolonda continues to work with.

 

Yolonda’s humanitarian work, as well as her acting work have been recognized by the Creative Coalition which honored her at their Hollywood Mother’s Day Tea: Salute to the Working Mothers Who Care event. She is also recognized as a force in the film/television industry, being featured in the Emmy Nominated PBS American Masters episode, How it Feels To Be Free, about black female trailblazers.

Yolonda is currently based in New York, and a native of Omaha, Nebraska.

SOCIAL MEDIA:
IMDB- Yolonda Ross
Website- YolondaRoss.com
Twitter- @YolondaRoss
Instagram- @Yolondaross_creator
Facebook- YolondaRossActress

 

MATERIALS:
ACTING REEL
RESUME
HEADSHOT
DIRECTING REEL