Actress Tika Sumpter was born Euphemia L. Sumpter on June 20, 1980 in Queens, NY. Sumpter was the first African-American cheerleader at her high school, Longwood Senior High, and she was the president of her class for three years. Sumpter's mother worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island prison, and Tika learned strength and perseverance through her example. Sumpter graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a major in communications. She then modeled and did commercials for Hewlett-Packard, and Liz Claiborne. Sumpter's breakthrough as an actress came in 2006 when she won the role of Layla Williamson on "One Life to Live" (ABC 1968 - 2012). Sumpter had just quit her job as a waitress because it was making her unhappy, then two days later she got her role as Layla, which she played for six years. Then Sumpter went on to "Gossip Girl" (The CW 2007-2012) where she played Raina Thorpe. She began breaking onto the big screen with "Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming" (2010), and "Salt" (2010), starring Angelina Jolie. Sumpter also starred in the remake of "Sparkle" (2012), "Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas" (2013), and the comedy "Ride Along" (2014), starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart before co-starring as Michelle Robinson in the romantic comedy-drama .Southside With You" (2016), depicting Robinson's first date with an idealistic young lawyer named Barack Obama.