Jocelyn Bioh

Jocelyn Bioh is a Ghanaian-American playwright, actress, and book writer born and raised in New York City, where she grew up in Washington Heights with her parents, who had immigrated from Ghana in 1968. The youngest of her siblings, she attended the Milton Hershey School, a boarding school for economically disadvantaged students, where her interest in theater took root. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theater from Ohio State University and later completed a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting at Columbia University. At Ohio State, Bioh encountered a theater department that relied heavily on typecasting, leaving few roles available to her as an actress of color. That experience led her to conclude that writing her own material was the path to better opportunities.

Bioh's playwriting career encompasses works produced in national and collegiate theaters. Her play African Americans was a Ruby Prize finalist in 2011. Nollywood Dreams appeared on The Kilroys' List in 2015, and School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play was featured in the MCC PlayLab Series at the Lucille Lortel Theater in November 2017, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Set in a boarding school, School Girls centers on a rivalry between a reigning social queen and a new student when a Miss Universe pageant recruiter takes interest in the newcomer. The play was also presented at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia in May and June 2022. Manhattan Theatre Club announced in March 2026 that School Girls will be produced at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre as part of their 2026–2027 season, with Whitney White attached to direct, with performances slated to begin September 8. Additional plays by Bioh include The Ladykiller's Love Story, featuring music and lyrics by CeeLo Green, and Happiness and Joe, a romantic comedy.

Bioh made her Broadway playwriting debut in the fall of 2023 with Jaja's African Hair Braiding, a comedy produced by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and directed by Whitney White. The play is set in a hair braiding shop in Harlem and follows a community of West African immigrant braiders over the course of a single summer day. It was selected as a New York Times Critic's Pick, received two extensions, and had its final week of performances streamed live worldwide. The production earned Bioh a Tony Award for Best Play nomination and a Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play nomination, both in 2024.

As an actress, Bioh joined the Broadway production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2014 as an original ensemble member. Her off-Broadway work includes roles in Soho Repertory Theatre's production of An Octoroon, Playwrights Horizons's Men on Boats, and Signature Theatre Company's production of Suzan-Lori Parks' The Red Letter Plays: In the Blood. Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins cast her as Topsy in his play Neighbors in 2010, and subsequently wrote the role of the slave Minnie in An Octoroon specifically for her. Bioh also appeared in Jacobs-Jenkins' Everybody at Signature Theatre Company in January 2017, a performance that earned her a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

Beyond the stage, Bioh has served as a writer on the Hulu series Tiny Beautiful Things. She holds affiliations as a playwright with Manhattan Theatre Club and Atlantic Theater Company, is a resident playwright at Lincoln Center, and held a 2017–18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence position with MCC. Her work appeared on The Kilroys' List in both 2015 and 2016, recognizing underproduced plays by female and trans playwrights.