Sonja Sohn
Sohn in 2011
Born	Sonja Denise Williams (1964-05-09)May 9, 1964 (age 61) Fort Benning,Georgia, U.S.
Occupations	Actress activist filmmaker
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Adam Plack ​ ​ (m. 2003; div. 2011)​
Children	2
Korean name
Hangul	손손자
RR	Son Sonja
MR	Son Sonja

Sonja Denise Plack (néeWilliams), known professionally asSonja Sohn, (born May 9, 1964) is an American actress, filmmaker, and activist, best known for portrayingBaltimore detectiveKima Greggs in theHBO dramaThe Wire (2002–2008). She is also known for having starred in the 1998 independent filmSlam, which she co-wrote, and appearing as Samantha Baker in theABC seriesBody of Proof. She is also the founder and CEO of theBaltimore-based outreach program, reWIRED for Change, which focuses on the rehabilitation of at-risk youth who have engaged in criminal behavior.

Sohn was born Sonja Denise Williams inFort Benning,Georgia. Her mother was Korean and her father was Black. Her parents met when her father was stationed inSouth Korea after theKorean War.^[1]

She attended and graduated fromWarwick High School inNewport News, Virginia.^[2]

Williams became professionally known as Sonja Sohn. Before she was an actress, Sohn was aslam poet.^[3] While performing her work on stage, she was spotted byMarc Levin who offered her a role in his filmSlam. She also wrote lyrics and co-wrote the script for the film. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at theSundance Film Festival. After debuting inSlam, Sohn appeared in minor roles in films such asShaft andBringing Out the Dead. She also starred in independent filmsPerfume,G andThe Killing Zone.^{[citation needed]}

Through the five seasons of the HBO seriesThe Wire, she held a starring role as Detective Kima Greggs.^[4] She also guest-starred on many episodes ofCold Case as "Toni Halstead". She won the supporting television actress award at the 2008Asian Excellence Awards for her character onThe Wire.^{[citation needed]}

She had a supporting role in the Hollywood filmStep Up 2: The Streets. In 2008-09, she was a guest star in the ABC seriesBrothers & Sisters, and in 2010 she appeared in an episode of CBS seriesThe Good Wife. In 2011, she was a guest star on the showBar Karma.^[5] She playedDetective Samantha Baker in the first two seasons of themedical drama television seriesBody of Proof withDana Delany andJeri Ryan, which premiered onABC on March 29, 2011.^[6]

Sohn joined season 2 ofThe Originals in a recurring role as the witch Lenore a.k.a. Esther Mikaelson.^[7]

Sohn made her directorial debut with the 2017HBO documentaryBaltimore Rising about the2015 Baltimore protests and community organizing that arose in response to police violence.^[8] In 2021, Sohn directedThe Slow Hustle, a documentary about the death of Baltimore Homicide Detective Sean Suiter, which was fictionally portrayed in the HBO miniseriesWe Own This City.

Sohn was cast as a series regular in ABC's police dramaWill Trent. Sohn plays Amanda, the head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Trent's (Ramón Rodríguez) boss. The pilot episode aired January 3, 2023.^[9]

Previously involved in political activism (she campaigned in North Carolina in support ofBarack Obama's2008 presidential bid), Sohn took a break from acting in 2009 to concentrate on social issues. She is the founder and CEO of theBaltimore-based reWIRED for Change, an outreach program intended to communicate with (and ultimately rehabilitate) at-risk youth involved in criminal activity.^[10][11]

The program is run out of theUniversity of Maryland School of Social Work and uses episodes ofThe Wire as a teaching tool, encouraging the participants to examine and query their lives and past actions.^[12] Other actors and writers involved withThe Wire serve as board members.^[13]

In 2011, she was presented with the Woman of the Year award from the Harvard Black Men's Forum.^[14]

Sohn has two daughters with her first husband, photographer Harvey Wang.^[15] In 2003, Sohn marrieddidgeridoo playerAdam Plack, but the couple divorced in 2011.^[16]

On July 21, 2019, Sohn was arrested in North Carolina and charged with felony possession of cocaine.^[17]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSonja Sohn.

• Sonja Sohn atIMDb
• reWIRED for Change homepage, rewiredforchange.org; accessed December 8, 2014.
• ReWired and Reading Liverpool Philharmonic, liverpoolphil.com; accessed December 8, 2014.
• ReWired and Reading The Reader Organisation, thereaderonline.co.uk; accessed December 8, 2014.
• Appearances onC-SPAN
  • C-SPANQ&A interview with Sohn, c-span.org; accessed December 8, 2014.

• 1964 births
• African-American poets
• American writers of Korean descent
• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• African-American activists
• American activists
• American actresses of Korean descent
• Korean people of African-American descent
• Slam poets
• Living people
• People from Newport News, Virginia
• American women poets
• Actresses from Baltimore
• 21st-century American poets
• 21st-century African-American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century African-American women writers
• 21st-century American women writers
• 21st-century African-American writers
• 20th-century African-American people
• 20th-century African-American women
• Warwick High School (Virginia) alumni

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