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Who is Imani Hakim?
American actress, producer and director Imani Hakim was born under the zodiac sign Leo in Cleveland, Ohio USA, on 12 August 1993. She has 27 acting credits, and is perhaps known best for portraying Dana in 26 episodes of the comedy series “Mythic Quest”, which stars Rob McElhenney and Charlotte Nicdao, and was created by Megan Ganz and Charlie Day. It follows the lives of developers of the video game “Mythic Quest”, the series has been airing since 2020, and has won three of its 20 award nomination.
Education and early life
Imani was raised in Cleveland alongside her five brothers, by their mother and father about whom not many details have been disclosed, because they prefer to be left out of media.
Imani became interested in acting at a very early age, and was seven when she began taking lessons at Karamu House Theatre; she was 11 when she persuaded her parents to allow her to attend auditions and pursue a career in the film industry, and Imani and her father thus moved together to Los Angeles, California. They were homeless for a couple of months, and slept in their car while Imani studied acting at both The Young Actor’s Space and Alexander’s Workshop School.
She was 13 when she made her debut TV series appearance, portraying Darcy in the 2006 episode “The Unusual Suspect” of the crime mystery “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, and Imani’s been active in the film industry ever since.
She was homeschooled, then upon passing her GED tests at 16 in 2009, didn’t enroll at college.
Roles in movies
Imani’s debut film role was playing Jocelyn Johnson in the 2007 drama “Reign Over Me”, which starred Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle, and was written and directed by Mike Binder. It follows a man who’s lost his family in the 9/11 attacks, and the film was nominated for three awards. Imani’s only other film role in the 2000s was playing Rakesha Anderson in the 2010 drama “One Angry Juror”.
In 2013, she portrayed MLE in the short comedy “Mean Gurlz”, and the following year saw her star as Gabby 14-16 Years Old in the critically acclaimed biographical sports drama “The Gabby Douglas Story”, which also starred Sydney Mikayla and Regina King, and was directed by Gregg Champion. It follows the life of the first African-American to be named an Olympic Individual All-Around Champion in artistic gymnastics, and the movie won three of its 12 award nominations. Imani could then have been seen appearing in the 2014 short comedy “LA Bound: 7 Things Nobody Tells You About Moving to LA”, the 2015 horror thriller “Some Kind of Hate” and the 2015 drama “Chocolate City”.
In 2016, Imani played Gabrielle in the action adventure comedy “Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens”, which starred Tara Reid and Ian Ziering, and was directed by Anthon C. Ferrante. It follows sharks and tornadoes which have begun appearing at unexpected places, and the film was nominated for only a single award.
The year 2018 saw Imani star as Sonya in the action “Down for Whatever”, which also starred Hosea Chanchez and LeToya Luckett, and was written and directed by Timothy Wayne Folsome. It follows the lives of detective Mike and his doctor wife Tracy.
Some of Imani’s most recent film roles have been in the 2019 short drama “Nightcap: Mariana”, the 2021 drama “Dinner Party”, and the 2023 horror thriller “A Southern Haunting”.
Roles in TV series
Imani voiced Tiffany in two episodes of the 2008 animated family comedy “The Replacements”, and the following year saw her play Anastasia Johnson in three episodes of the romantic drama “ER”.
From 2006 through 2009, she starred as Tonya in all 88 episodes of the musical comedy “Everybody Hates Chris”, which also starred Terry Crews and Chris Rock, and was created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi. It follows the lives of an African-American teenager and his family, and the series won seven of its 58 award nominations.
The year 2009 saw Imani play Jump Rope Girl in the episode “Marathoner Helper” of the adventure comedy “Wizards of Waverly Place”, and the year 2014 saw her play Mara in the episode “Half the Sky” of the thriller “State of Affairs”.
Her only two other TV series roles have been portraying Madeline in the 2020 episode “Hit the Wall” of the drama “Acting for a Cause” and Young Evelyn in two episodes of the 2023 crime drama “Will Trent”.
Imani Hakim AKA Tonya from ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ is all grown up. pic.twitter.com/TgR2A7yptU
— MoorInfo (@MoorInformation) June 18, 2019
Other credits
Imani produced and directed the 2019 short drama movie “Nightcap: Mariana”, and she produced the 2021 drama film “Dinner Party”.
Some of her most recent talk-show appearances have been in “Teens Around Town (TAT)”,”Chasing LA”, and “WTF Nation Radio: Pop Culture Warrior”.
Awards and nominations
Imani won a 2021 Vancouver Independent Film Festival Award for Best Acting Ensemble, for “Dinner Party”.
She was also nominated for a 2015 Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress, TV Movie or Mini-Series, for her performance in “The Gabby Douglas Story”.
Love life and wife
Imani can rarely be heard speaking about her love life in public but we still know about one man whom she’s been with.
Back in 2016, she was in a relationship with American musician DJ Matthew Russell; Matthew’s yet to breakthrough, and is followed by only a few over 20,000 people on Instagram, while he’s posted close to 1,000 pictures onto the network. It’s widely believed that Imani and Matthew were together for around a year and a half, but this hasn’t been confirmed; they also often uploaded pictures which featured them together onto their social media accounts.
There are no other men whom Imani’s perhaps dated, that we know about; she seems to be unattached as of September 2023, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Imani seems to be enjoying the attention which she’s receiving from her close to 450,000 Instagram followers, and she’s posted close to 100 pictures and videos onto the network; most of these show her during her everyday life.
She’s physically quite active as it’s important for her career to stay fit; Imani works out at the gym several times a week and also likes to do yoga and go running.
She likes to keep up with fashion trends and reads fashion magazines every day.
Imani’s a fan of tattoos and has several inked onto different parts of her body.
She likes to spend her spare time in nature with her friends.
Imani’s a lover of animals, but birds are her favorites.
One of her favorite actresses is Gabrielle Union, and some of her favorite movies include “Almost Christmas”, “Bring It On” and “10 Things I Hate About You”.
Appearance and net worth
Imani’s age is 30. She has brown eyes and black hair, weighs around 100lbs (47kgs) and is 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall.
Imani’s net worth’s been estimated at over $500,000, as of September 2023.
