Persia White

Biography

Persia Jessica White is an American actress, singer and musician. White is perhaps best known for her role as Lynn Searcy on the UPN sitcom Girlfriends which originally aired from 2000 until 2008.

White was born one of four children to an Irish-American mother and a Bahamian father. Her early years were spent in the Bahamas.

Her television work includes appearances on Angel, NYPD Blue, The Steve Harvey Show, Brooklyn South, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as regular roles on Breaker High with co-star Ryan Gosling, Sister Sister as Anya and Girlfriends as Lynn. In 2008, White appeared in The Fall of Night in the role of Dawn. She can also be seen in Chrisette Michele’s video for “Be OK.”

In addition to acting, White also co-produced the award-winning documentary Earthlings, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. In July 2011, White won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in the American Black Film Festival for her work in Dysfunctional Friends. She also appeared as Bonnie’s mother on The Vampire Diaries in a semi-recurring role.

In 2019, she reunited with her Girlfriends co-stars Tracee Ellis Ross, Jill Marie Jones, and Golden Brooks in an episode of the ABC comedy series Black-ish.

After three years of dating, White married fellow Vampire Diaries actor Joseph Morgan in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on July 5, 2014.