Rutina Wesley

Rutina Wesley is an actress best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on True Blood and Nova Bordelon on Queen Sugar. Wesley was raised in a performing arts household and attended the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Evansville in Indiana and later trained at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Wesley made her onscreen debut in the 2007 film How She Move, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. That same year, she was cast in her breakout role as Tara Thornton on the vampire drama True Blood, where she remained a principal cast member until the HBO show ended in 2014.

The actress went on to appear on episodes of Hannibal, Arrow and The Walking Dead. In 2016, she began starring as Nova Bordelon on the drama Queen Sugar, a role that earned her critical recognition and several NAACP Image Award nominations. She has also appeared in films such as 13 Sins (2014), The Perfect Guy (2015) and Outsiders (2021).

In 2023, she started a recurring role on HBO’s The Last of Us, acting alongside Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

Wesley married actor Jacob Fishel in 2005 after meeting at Julliard. The couple divorced in 2013. In 2017, she announced her engagement to longtime girlfriend Chef Shonda, but the engagement was called off in 2019.