Demetria McKinney

Demetria Dyan McKinney (born August 27, 1979^[1]) is an American actress and singer. From 2006 to 2012, during its original run, she starred in the TBS sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne, a BET revival of the show was announced in 2020. Her other series regular roles include TV One sitcom The Rickey Smiley Show, Bounce TV prime time soap opera Saints & Sinners and Syfy horror drama Superstition, as well as Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform.

Demetria McKinney
McKinney in 2015
Born	Demetria Dyan McKinney (1979-08-27) August 27, 1979 (age 43) Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Other names	Dee Dee McKinney, Demi
Education	Fort Walton Beach High School
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	2000–present
Children	1
Website	artistecard.com

Her stage credits include playing Coretta Scott King in the Rhythm and Blues Opera I Dream (2010), as well as the role of Deena Jones in Dreamgirls (2012).^[2] In 2017, McKinney played Whitney Houston in the TV One film Bobbi Kristina. She released her debut album Officially Yours in 2017.

Career

Acting

McKinney has performed in a number of Tyler Perry's stage plays, including Meet The Browns, Why Did I Get Married and Madea's Family Christmas. She starred as Janine Shelton-Payne on the TBS comedy series Tyler Perry's House of Payne from 2006 to 2012. She was nominated for a 2009 National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Vision Award for Best Performance in a Comedy, in recognition of her work on House of Payne.^[3] She returned for the House of Payne spin-off The Paynes in 2018.^[4] McKinney has guest starred on Necessary Roughness, Drop Dead Diva, Devious Maids, Chicago Med, and Being Mary Jane. She also appeared on Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta, as a recurring cast member during the seventh season, and a guest star on the eighth season.

From 2012 to 2014, McKinney had a series regular role on the TV One comedy series, The Rickey Smiley Show. In 2016, she was cast as Tamara Austin in the Bounce TV prime time television soap opera Saints & Sinners. In 2017, she was cast opposite Mario Van Peebles and Robinne Lee in the Syfy horror drama Superstition.^[5] The series was canceled after one season. Also in 2017, McKinney starred in the TV One movie Bobbi Kristina as Whitney Houston, the late icon and mother to Bobbi Kristina.^[6][7]

McKinney had a recurring role in the BET drama series The Quad from 2017 to 2018. She also played a leading role in the 2018 Christmas themed romantic film A Stone Cold Christmas. In 2019, she starred in the Urban Movie Channel family drama series A House Divided alongside Paula Jai Parker.^[8] She was later cast in the Freeform drama series Motherland: Fort Salem.^[9] In 2022, she began starring on The Winchesters.^[10]

Singing

McKinney has performed in a number of musicals. In 2010, she performed in the Rhythm and Blues opera I Dream. She appeared in Dreamgirls and performed with Jennifer Holliday in 2012, and lent vocals to R&B singer Anthony David's album Love Out Loud.^[11] In 2015, her single "Trade It All" charted on Billboard's Adult R&B Songs.^[11]

In 2017, McKinney released her debut album Officially Yours.^[12] She received a nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist.^[13] From this album, she released three singles: "Is This Love", "Happy" and "Easy" which peaked at #4 on the Adult R&B Songs chart.^[14]

Personal life

McKinney faced homelessness at the age of 17 and has one child.^[15]

She was in a decade long on-off relationship with TV producer Roger Bobb. McKinney called off their engagement in 2016, then later on announced she was dating music producer Eric Philips.^[16]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns	Kim Brown	Play
2006	Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?	Trina	Play
2007	Daddy's Little Girls	Club Lady
2007	Standing Reign	Reign	Short film
2008	Before I Wake	Tracy Mason	Short film
2010	Breaking Up Is Hard to Do	Shonda
2011	Church Girl	Emily
2012	Raising Izzie	Singer
2013	In the Meantime	Felicia
2013	Let the Church Say Amen	Tawny
2013	Deranged	Tracey James	Play
2015	Sons 2 the Grave	Vanessa Bishop
2017	Bobbi Kristina	Whitney Houston	Television film
2017	Providence Island	Mary Dunbar
2018	A Stone Cold Christmas	Mia Stone	Television film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006–2012, 2020	Tyler Perry's House of Payne	Janine Shelton–Payne	Main role (seasons 1–8), recurring role (season 9), 153 episodes
2011	Necessary Roughness	Leanne	Episode: "Whose Team Are You On?"
2012–2014	The Rickey Smiley Show	Monica	Series regular, 37 episodes
2014	Let's Stay Together	Shauna	Episode: "Date My Wife, Please"
2014	Drop Dead Diva	Lisa	Episode: "Cheers & Jeers"
2014	Devious Maids	Natasha Jones	Episode: "Private Lives"
2014–2015	The Real Housewives of Atlanta	Herself; 13 episodes	Recurring (season 7), Guest (season 8).
2015	Mann & Wife	Lisa Lovejoy	Episode: "Mann-ditory Counseling"
2016–2022	Saints & Sinners	Tamara Austin Calloway	Recurring cast (season 1) Series regular (seasons 2–4)
2016	Chicago Med	Mrs. James	Episode: "Win Loss"
2017	Being Mary Jane	Jessie Lords	Episode: "Feeling Lost"
2017–2018	Superstition	May Westbrook	Series regular, 11 episodes
2017–2018	The Quad	Beretta Hobbs	Recurring role, 4 episodes
2018	The Paynes	Janine Shelton–Payne	Episodes: "A Surprise for the Paynes", "Revelations of Payne", "A Confrontation of Payne"
2019–present	A House Divided	Carissa Walker	Series regular
2020	American Soul	June Pointer	Episode: "Satisfaction"
2020–2022	Motherland: Fort Salem	Anacostia Quartermaine^[17]	Main role
2022-Present	The Winchesters	Ada Monroe	Main role

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak positions
		US Indie ^[18]
Officially Yours	Released: October 6, 2017^[19] Label: Entertainment One Music Formats: CD, digital download	48

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart position		Album
		US	US Adult R&B ^[14]
"Get Yo ..Ish"	2011	—	—	—
"Take Away This Love"	2012	—	—
"Still Believe in Love (feat. Musiq Soulchild)"	2013	—	—
"Work With Me"		—	—
"100 (feat. da Brat)"	2015	—	—
"Trade It All"	2015	—	25
"Unnecessary Trouble (feat. Kandi Burruss)"		—	—
"Easy"	2017	—	4	Officially Yours
"Is This Love"		—	—

References

1. Benozilio, Shira (January 5, 2015). "Demetria McKinney". HollywoodLife.com. Bonnie Fuller. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
2. Tube, Stage. "STAGE TUBE: Meet Demetria McKinney - 'Deena' in The Muny's DREAMGIRLS!". Retrieved November 14, 2017.
3. (PDF). Namic.com. February 11, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
4. admin. "EGL EXCLUSIVE: Demetria McKinney Discusses the Return of "The Paynes," Her Forthcoming Album, Donald Trump and More!Everything Girls Love - Everything Girls Love". everythinggirlslove.com. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
5. Tartaglione, Nancy (July 31, 2017). "'Superstition': Syfy Drama From Mario Van Peebles, XLRator Sets Cast; Netflix Boards". Retrieved November 14, 2017.
6. "Demetria McKinney Became The Most Vulnerable She's Ever Been For Her Role As Whitney Houston". Retrieved November 14, 2017.
7. "Bobbi Kristina Brown's Life Gets the Made-for-TV Biopic Treatment: See the First Cast Shot". April 28, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
8. Yang, Rachel (March 28, 2019). "UMC Sets New Drama 'A House Divided,' 'Craig Ross Jr.'s Monogamy' Season 2".
9. Petski, Denise (July 10, 2018). "'Motherland': Freeform Sets Cast For Drama Pilot From 'Claws' Creator, Begins Production".
10. Petski, Denise (April 1, 2022). "The Winchesters': Demetria McKinney Joins The CW's 'Supernatural' Prequel Pilot".
11. "Demetria McKinney | Biography & History". AllMusic.
12. "The many shades of Demetria McKinney". www.theatlantavoice.com. October 16, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
13. "Demetria McKinney Nominated For NAACP Image Award And Comes To The Apollo - Harlem World Magazine". November 21, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
14. "demetria Album & Song Chart History: R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
15. "Demetria McKinney on Overcoming Homelessness, Abuse [VIDEO]". Black America Web. June 12, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
16. "Roger Bobb Is Canceled: Demetria McKinney Has A New Man". madamenoire.com. September 21, 2016.
17. Swift, Andy (March 5, 2019). "Freeform Orders Drama Series About Witches in the Military — Watch Teaser". TVLine. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
18. "Demetria McKinney Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
19. "Officially Yours". October 6, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017 – via Amazon.

External links

• Demetria McKinney at IMDb