Ameenah Kaplan

Ameenah Kaplan (born June 17, 1974 Denver, Colorado) is an American actress, musician and choreographer.

Life and career

Ameenah hails from both Atlanta, where she graduated from Avondale High School for the Performing Arts, and from New York, where she attended Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and trained in their experimental theater wing. She has played numerous TV and legitimate theater roles, and sees herself first as an actor.

She has been a drummer since age 12 and was a member of the original American cast of STOMP. She is the west coast drum coach for Blue Man Group. She has played drums and/or percussion with Ty Taylor of Vintage Trouble, Adam Lambert, Alisan Porter, Macy Gray, Rihanna, Taylor Hicks, Lisa Haley and the Zydecats, Drake, Leslie Odom Jr., Scarlett Cherry, and the Twinz. She has performed on Oprah, Conan O’Brien, The Academy Awards, the AMA’s, the Grammy’s, and the Tonight Show. Her current bands are : Sin City (hip-hop) and KULA (rock).

Filmography

Films

Year Title Role Notes
1996 Broken Silence (film) Ashaela
1999 Flushed
2006 The Masked Champion IV Darla
2009 The Zodiac Show : Metamorphosis herself documentary
2009 Lulu : The R&B Guru a shopper
2012 The American Failure
2014 Love Thy Nature herself documentary
2014 Apocalypse According to Doris Serena
2015 Traffic School : The Musical Roberta

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2000 18 Wheels of Justice Olivia Episode : 01x18
2002 Strong Medicine Patsy Episodes : 02x21 & 02x22
2004 Cold Case Leticia Castillo Episode : 01x15
2004 Veronica Mars Loretta Cancun Episode : 01x20
2007 Hannah Montana Mom Episode : 01x25
2009 Medium Nurse Episode : 06x23
2009 Heroes Agent Palidan Episode : 04x09
2011 Harry's Law Forewoman Episode : pilot
2011 Mr. Sunshine Angie Episode : 01x04
2011 Law & Order: LA SID Tech Episode : 01x16
2011 Grey's Anatomy Makena Episodes : 07x20 & 09x12
2011 The Office (U.S.) Val Episodes : Season 08 (ep:3-6-12-13-14-16-24); Season 9 (ep:10-14-23)

Choreography

Year Show
2008 Prove It On Me
2009 Oedipus The King, Mama!
2009 Frosty the Snow Manilow
2009 Altar Boyz
2010 The Ballad of Emmett Till
2010 The Women of Brewster Place
2010 CHiPs the Musical
2010 A Wither's Tale
2011 Camino Real
2011 BASH'd! A Gay Rap Opera
2012 In the Red and Brown Water
2014 Facing Our Truth: The Trayvon Martin Plays
2014 Raditatical

References

http://www.tvweb.com/people/ameenah-kaplan/credits ; http://www.tv.com/people/ameenah-kaplan ; http://bunkernmedia.se/people/71873-ameenah-kaplan ; http://www.imdb.com.br/filmosearch?sort=year&explore=title_type&role=nm0438188&ref_=nm_ql_flmg_1 ; http://www.abouttheartists.com/artists/321740-ameenah-kaplan ;