Biography

An actress of the small screen, big screen, and stage, as well as a contemporary R&B singer, Demetria McKinney was born in Florida but grew up in a military household and moved frequently. After singing in church choirs, she eventually earned a vocal scholarship and studied theater and dance. Though starting in theater, she's best known for her television role as Janine on U.S. cable network TBS' sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne from 2006-2012. During the show's run, she appeared in films including Daddy's Little Girls (2007), Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (2010), and Church Girl (2011) and on-stage portraying Coretta Scott King in the musical I Dream. She has also performed in several of Tyler Perry's stage plays. In 2012, McKinney lent vocals to R&B singer Anthony David's album Love Out Loud, and appeared on-stage in the musical Dreamgirls alongside Jennifer Holliday. The following year, she joined TV One's sitcom The Rickey Smiley Show, and in 2014 landed a recurring role on Lifetime's Devious Maids. That year, she also released two singles, "Work with Me" and later "100," which features the Grammy-nominated rapper Da Brat. In 2015, she found herself involved in the U.S. reality show Real Housewives of Atlanta, and her sultry ballad "Trade It All" landed on the Billboard adult R&B chart. She returned to the chart in early 2017 with "Easy," which reached the Top Five. Her full-length debut, Officially Yours, followed on Entertainment One that October, coinciding with the premiere of her show Superstition, a Syfy drama series helmed by Mario Van Peebles. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi