Yaya DaCosta

Acting

Yaya DaCosta

Born 1982-11-15 · Harlem, New York, New York, USA

Camara DaCosta Johnson, professionally known as Yaya Alafia (formerly Yaya DaCosta), is an American actress and model. She's best known for her starring role as April Sexton on NBC's Chicago Med, as Andrea Vaughn in Our Kind of People, and as Whitney Houston in the TV movie Whitney. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of America's Next Top Model. She eventually went to star as Cassandra in ABC's daytime soap All My Children, as Nico Slater in ABC's comedy-drama Ugly Betty, and as April Sexton on NBC's medical drama Chicago Med. She's also appeared in films including The Kids Are All Right, In Time, The Messenger, The Butler, And So It Goes, and The Nice Guys.

Acting credits

In Time poster
7.0

In the not-too-distant future, the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest struggle to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who suddenly comes into a fortune of time finds himself on the run from a corrupt police force known as the "time keepers".

In Time

2011

The Nice Guys poster
7.1

A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.

The Nice Guys

2016

TRON: Legacy poster
6.5

Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy and daring son of Kevin Flynn, investigates his father's disappearance and is pulled into The Grid. With the help of a mysterious program named Quorra, Sam quests to stop evil dictator Clu from crossing into the real world.

TRON: Legacy

2010

The Kids Are All Right poster
6.6

Two women, Nic and Jules, brought a son and daughter into the world through artificial insemination. When one of their children reaches age, both kids go behind their mothers' backs to meet with the donor. Life becomes so much more interesting when the father, two mothers and children start to become attached to each other.

The Kids Are All Right

2010

Take the Lead poster
6.9

A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.

Take the Lead

2006

The Messenger poster
6.7

Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who has returned home from Iraq, is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Montgomery is partnered with Captain Tony Stone, to give notice to the families of fallen soldiers. The Sergeant is drawn to Olivia Pitterson, to whom he has delivered news of her husband’s death.

The Messenger

2009

Mother of George poster
5.3

A Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn are having trouble conceiving a child - a problem that defies cultural expectations and leads to a shocking decision that could either save or destroy them.

Mother of George

2013

The Butler poster
7.3

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

The Butler

2013

And So It Goes poster
6.0

Nobody likes self-centered realtor Oren Little, and he prefers it that way. He's deliberately mean to anyone who crosses his path and wants nothing more than to sell one final house and retire. His life turns upside-down when his estranged son drops off a granddaughter he never knew existed. Suddenly left in charge of her and with no idea how to take care of a child, he pawns the girl off on his neighbor, Leah -- but he eventually learns how to open his heart.

And So It Goes

2014

Bolden poster
4.1

A mythical account of the life of Buddy Bolden, the first Cornet King of New Orleans.

Bolden

2019

Honeydripper poster
5.9

In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time.

Honeydripper

2007

Whitney poster
5.7

Chronicles Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.

Whitney

2015

Peel poster
6.5

After his father takes his two brothers and high tails it, Peel is forced to grow up in a state of arrested development. Once his mother dies, he must forge his own path and attempts to find his lost brethren.

Peel

2019

Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story poster
8.4

On the day that Antoinette Tuff considered suicide, she realized that all of her challenges had prepared her for a purpose; to save an Atlanta school under siege from a deranged killer bent on murdering the students.

Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story

2018

Whole Lotta Sole poster
5.4

In a misguided attempt to protect his family and pay back gambling debts to the local Mobster, Jimbo robs a fish market, which is coincidentally owned by the same Mobster. On the run, Jimbo is cornered in a local curio shop, where he takes hostage an assortment of colourful characters, including a man who may be his illegitimate father. Surrounded by the Police, the SAS and the Mobster's crew, the young man must find a way out of his precarious predicament with the help of his oddball captives.

Whole Lotta Sole

2011

Racing for Time poster
5.8

Cleveland 'Stack' Stackhouse is a guard with the Texas Correctional Youth Authority who witnesses the cycle of destructive choices and racial tensions among female teen offenders and decides to do something about it. He gathers African-American, Latina and Caucasian teens, and organizes a multi-racial track team behind the bars of the prison. Participation in Stack's track team not only breaks down the racial divides between the girls, but puts them on a path to turn their lives around.

Racing for Time

2008

Big Words poster
5.0

Members of a once-promising hip-hop group, now in their late 30s, struggle with regret, disappointment, and change on Election Night 2008.

Big Words

2013

Weekends at Bellevue poster
NR

Centers on Ellie, the psychiatrist in charge of the weekend shift of Bellevue Hospital psychiatric unit.

Weekends at Bellevue

2011

Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story poster
6.0

Monique Smith endures years of horrific abuse at the hands of her family, only to learn that she isn't related to them at all. Searching for truth, Monique embarks on a life-long quest to discover her true identity and biological origins.

Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story

2025