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Serayah Ranee McNeill (born June 20, 1995) also known mononymously as Serayah, is an American actress, model and singer, known for her roles as Tiana Brown on the Fox musical drama series Empire (2015–2020), and as Rebecca "Rbel" Belle in the BET+ musical drama series, Kingdom Business (2022–present).[1]
Serayah | |
|---|---|
 Serayah at the Fashion Los Angeles Awards 2018. | |
| Born | Serayah Ranee McNeill June 20, 1995 Encinitas, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer, model |
| Years active | 2015–present |
Serayah Ranee McNeill was born in Encinitas, California.[2] She graduated from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, where she played for the girls' varsity basketball team, in 2013.[2][3]
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Acting
The character of Tiana on Empire marks her first major acting role.[4] In a 2015 interview with Black Enterprise, Serayah stated of her role, "One thing I always say about this show is it's a lot of drama, but it's family drama so people relate. Every family has some type of drama, and I think that it touches on a lot of the entertainment business and the music business. Some exaggerated parts, but it really does touch on some of the things that happen."[5] She was added to the series regular cast on August 26, 2015.[6] She appeared in the 2017 drama film Burning Sands and later starred in films Favorite Son (2021) and its sequel Favorite Son Christmas (2023) directed by Robin Givens.[7][8]
In 2021, Serayah played the lead in the Lifetime movie Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Story. Later in 2021, Serayah joined the cast of Starz crime drama series, Black Mafia Family in a recurring role.[9] She starred in VH1 movie Hip Hop Family Christmas (2021) and its sequel Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding (2022) alongside Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo and Valarie Pettiford, and played the lead opposite Ne-Yo in the BET+ film The Sound of Christmas.[10]
In 2022, Serayah was cast in a leading role alongside gospel singer Yolanda Adams in the BET+ musical drama series, Kingdom Business.[11] The series premiered on May 19, 2022 and the second season premiered on November 2, 2023. In 2023 she starred in the Tubi thriller film Best Friend.[12]
Music
In 2015, Serayah appeared in singer Taylor Swift's video for the song "Bad Blood" as the character Dilemma.[13] On July 18, 2015, Swift performed a rendition of her song "Style" alongside McNeill on the Chicago stop of her The 1989 World Tour.[14] She performed at Marshall Academy of the Arts in Long Beach in March 2015. In 2016, she was featured in the RedOne song "Don't You Need Somebody", that also features Enrique Iglesias, R. City and Shaggy. In 2018, she released her debut EP Addicted.[15] In 2019, she played a main role in the music video for "Undecided" by Chris Brown. In 2022, she appeared in the music video by Diddy feat. Bryson Tiller for the song, Gotta Move On.
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In 2023, Serayah began dating rapper and actor Joey Badass.[16]
Film
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Lucky Girl | Lisa Jackson | |
| 2017 | Burning Sands | Angel | |
| 2021 | Favorite Son | Dawn | |
| 2022 | The Sound of Christmas | Montana | |
| 2023 | Best Friend | Trisha | |
| 2023 | Favorite Son 2: Christmas | Dawn | |
| 2024 | Robbin | ||
| TBA | Takeover | Lt. Keisha Jenner | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–2020 | Empire | Tiana Brown | Recurring (season 1) Main (seasons 2–6) |
| 2021 | Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Story | Keisha | Television film |
| 2021–present | Black Mafia Family | Lori Walker | Recurring |
| 2021 | Hip Hop Family Christmas | Kelsey Nixon | Television film |
| 2022 | Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding | Kelsey Nixon | Television film |
| 2021 | True Story | Andrea | 2 episodes |
| 2022–present | Kingdom Business | Rebecca "Rbel" Belle | Lead role |
| 2023 | Wu-Tang: An American Saga | Karina | Recurring |
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- EPs
- Addicted (2018)
- Ray ' ' (2020)
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Driving Me" | 2017 | Addicted |
| "You Told Me" | 2018 | |
| "GTTM (Going Through The Motions)" | ||
| "So Good" | Non-album single | |
| "Lost & Found" | Addicted | |
| "4 Pages" | 2019 | Non-album single |
| "Love It" |
Featured
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US |
US R&B/HH [17] |
US Pop [18] |
US Rhythm [19] |
BEL (Wa) [20] |
GER [21] |
POL [22] |
SPA [23] |
SWE [24] |
SWI [25] | |||
| "Drip Drop" (Empire Cast featuring Yazz and Serayah) |
2015 | —[A] | 37 | — | — | — | 73 | — | — | — | — | Empire: Original Soundtrack from Season 1 |
| "Look But Don't Touch" (Empire Cast featuring Serayah) |
2016 | — | — | — | 33[27] | — | — | — | — | — | — | Empire: Original Soundtrack Season 2 Volume 2 |
| "Don't You Need Somebody" (RedOne featuring Enrique Iglesias, R. City, Serayah and Shaggy) |
— | — | 32 | 37 | 69 | — | 59 | 27 | 7 | 19 | Non-album single | |
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- "Drip Drop" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 14 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.[26]
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