Adina Porter

Adina Elizabeth Porter is an American actress born and raised in New York City. She graduated from the State University of New York at Purchase, where her first acting teacher was Butterfly McQueen. She has been married twice and has two children with her second husband, Larry Earl Madison Jr.

Porter launched her career in the theater, accumulating off-Broadway credits that include The Debutante Ball, Jersey City, Aven' U Boys, Girl Gone, Silence, Cunning, Exile, Dancing on Moonlight, and Hurricane. She also performed in multiple productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1996, her performance in Venus earned her the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress. Her Broadway debut came in 2001 with the Roundabout Theater's revival of The Women, directed by Scott Elliott, which was broadcast as part of PBS's Stage on Screen series.

Porter's screen career began with guest appearances on television dramas including Law & Order, New York Undercover, Brooklyn South, and NYPD Blue. Her film debut came in 1992 with the Leopold/Loeb New Queer Cinema feature Swoon, followed by supporting roles in The Peacemaker (1997), Gia (1998), Body Shots (1999), The Fluffer (2001), and The Salon (2005). In 2005, she played Ricky in the HBO film adaptation of Ruben Santiago-Hudson's play Lackawanna Blues, a performance that earned her the Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Movie or Cable production. From 2002 to 2003, she held a recurring role as housekeeper Gwen Walker in the NBC period drama American Dreams. Additional television appearances during this period included ER, Prison Break, Without a Trace, House, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2008, Porter was cast as Lettie Mae Thornton, mother to Rutina Wesley's character Tara Thornton, in the HBO series True Blood, a role she continued through the show's seventh and final season, to which she was promoted as a series regular. Beginning in 2012, she had a recurring role as Kendra James on the HBO drama The Newsroom, continuing through 2014. That same year she began a recurring role as Indra in the CW post-apocalyptic drama The 100, a role she held through 2020. In 2012 she also guest starred in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Porter starred in two unsold drama pilots for ABC, Doubt in 2013 and The Jury in 2016. In 2016, she played Pearly Mae in the first season of the WGN America period drama Underground.

Also in 2016, Porter joined the FX anthology series American Horror Story: Roanoke as Lee Harris, having previously appeared in a minor role in the series' first season, Murder House, in 2011. Her work in Roanoke brought a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress on Television. She subsequently portrayed Beverly Hope in American Horror Story: Cult, earning a second Saturn Award nomination as well as a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. Porter was promoted to series regular for the eighth season, Apocalypse, playing Dinah Stevens, and returned as a main cast member in the tenth season, Double Feature (2021), portraying Chief Burleson. In 2020, she played Sheriff Susan Peterkin in the Netflix teen drama series Outer Banks.