Lauren London

Lauren London was an American actress who was best known for her roles on the TV show "The Game" (BET/The CW, 2006-2015) and the mini-series "Games People Play" (BET, 2019). Born and raised in Los Angeles to a Caucasian Jewish father and African-American mother, London struggled with her biracial identity growing up. She would recall how at family party's on her mother's side, her cousins would ridicule her for "not being black enough"; but while attending a predominantly white summer camp, she was identified as "the black girl." As she got older, however, London grew comfortable in her biracial identity and learned to dismiss the name calling from others. Growing up in Los Angeles, London was surrounded by the entertainment industry, and quickly took an interest in acting. She got her start in the business by appearing in music videos for such high-profile hip-hop stars as Snoop Dogg and Ludacris. She made the jump into screen-acting in the mid-2000s with small parts on "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN/The CW, 2005-09) and "Entourage" (HBO, 2004-2011), before nabbing her breakout role in the 2006 coming-of-age film "ATL." London played "New New" in the film, which was directed by Chris Robinson. After her appearance in "ATL," London continued nabbing parts on TV, with recurring roles on "90210" (The CW, 2008-2013) and "Single Ladies" (VH1/Centric, 2011-15), as well as roles in films like "I Love You, Beth Cooper" (2009) and "Madea's Big Happy Family" (2011). Then in 2013 London began appearing on the BET comedy-drama "The Game." She played the character Keira Whitaker on 44 episodes of the series. After her part on "The Game" ended, London nabbed her next big part on the mini-series "Games People Play." That show premiered on BET in 2019. London was also in the news in the spring of 2019 when her longtime boyfriend, the hip hop star Nipsey Hussle, was murdered on a street in Los Angeles. London and Hussle had been dating since 2013 and had one son together. Hussle was only 33 when he was killed.