Taryn Manning

A gifted character actress-musician, Taryn Manning channeled her real-life traumatic childhood into a series of powerfully realized roles as troubled young women in "crazy/beautiful" (2001), "Crossroads" (2002), "White Oleander" (2002), "8 Mile" (2002) and "Cold Mountain" (2003). Manning broke through with an impressive supporting role as a hard-luck hooker loyal to her pimp (Terrence Howard) in the Oscar-winning "Hustle & Flow" (2005), which sparked serious award talk for the actress. Besides running her own clothing line, Born Uniqorn, she also teamed with her brother Kellin to form the electro-duo Boomkat, who topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play charts with "The Wreckoning." Settling into character work, she impressed with recurring roles on "Sons of Anarchy" (FX, 2008-14) and "Hawaii Five-0" (CBS, 2010- ) and recorded her first solo album, Freedom City, in 2012. Although she was most frequently cast as desperate, damaged women, Taryn Manning proved herself to be an entertainer of depth and range both musically as well as dramatically.