'Queen Sugar' Full Cast List: Meet Rutina Westley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and other stars of the OWN TV family drama
The fifth season of Oprah Winfrey Network’s popular drama series ‘Queen Sugar’ is all set to premiere on February 16, 2021. The drama with powerful Black women characters in the lead has garnered much acclaim in the past few years and captivated the audience with their intriguing storyline.
The series, which revolves around the lives of estranged siblings of the Bordelon family is set out of Louisiana, where the siblings are found dealing with their personal battles while trying to save their father’s sugarcane farm.
As you gear up for binge-watching the past seasons before Season 5 drops, let’s have a look at the star cast of the series.
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Rutina Wesley
TV actress Rutina Wesley stars as the journalist and activist Nova Bordelon on the show. She is also a herbal healer, who inherits her father’s farm along with her brother and sister.
You might recognize Wesley as Tara Thornton from the hit TV series True Blood. Rutina has had a strong background in acting since her childhood — being born to performer parents Ivery Wheeler and Cassandra Wesley. After pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in theater performance from the University of Evansville, she attended Juilliard Drama Division in New York, where she trained alongside her ‘Queen Sugar’ co-star Dawn-Lyen Gardner.
Wesley’s first break came when she starred opposite veteran actor Bill Nighy in the Broadway play ‘The Vertical Hour’ by David Hare. She also acted in the Public Theater production of ‘In Darfur’.
Her first role on the big screen was in the dance drama ‘How She Move’ by director Ian Rashid. She has starred in feature films like ‘13 Sins’ and ‘The Perfect Guy’ and appeared in TV shows like ‘Hannibal’, the animated series ‘The Cleveland Show’, ‘Numb3rs’ and ‘Arrow’.
Dawn-Lyen Gardner
Gardner essays the role of Charley Bordelon-West in ‘Queen Sugar’, the savvy wife and manager of her NBA player husband. Charley relocates to Louisiana after her father’s death to maintain his failing sugarcane farm.
Dawn-Lyen Gardner has been acting in the professional domain since she was nine years old, after a family friend, who was a casting director, urged her family to let her star in commercials. Those shoots later helped her secure guest appearances in popular shows like ‘ER’, ‘The Sinbad Show’ and ‘Viper’.
After graduating from Juilliard Drama Division along with Queen Sugar co-star Rutina Westley, Gardner went on to star in multiple TV series like ‘The Mysteries of Laura’, ‘Castle’, ‘Heroes’, ‘Cane’, ‘Summerland’, ‘Unforgettable’, ‘I Love you...but I Lied’, Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’ and more.
She also acted in the feature film ‘Art School Confidential’ and will be seen next in ‘The Dunning Man’. She has also done voice acting for the animated series of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’. Gardner is also an acclaimed stage actor who starred in world premiere productions of popular plays alongside legends like Helen Hunt, Grace Gummer and Lyle Lovett.
Kofi Siriboe
Kofi Siriobe plays Ralph Angel Bordelon in the series, the Bordelon brother and father of a six-year-old son, and has recently been released from prison.
A first-generation American with origins from West Africa, Kofi is the great-grandson of a highly respected king in Juaben, Ashanti of Ghana. His brothers Kwame Boateng and Kwesi Boakye are also actors.
Kofi started acting at the age of six after an agent discovered him at a shopping mall in Beverly Hills.
He is known for his role as Tyler Miller in MTV’s ‘Awkward’. He has also acted in big-screen hits like ‘Whiplash’ and ‘Straight Outta Compton’, ‘The Longshots’, ‘Prom’ etc. On television, he has starred in episodes of ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’, ‘Lincoln Heights’ and ‘Entourage’.
Omar Dorsey
Famed star Omar Dorsey essays the role of Hollywood Desonier in ‘Queen Sugar’.
Dorsey has starred in blockbuster films like ‘The Blind Side’, ‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Selma’. In a career spanning two decades, he has guest-starred in several television shows like ‘ER’, ‘The Shield’, ‘The Mentalist’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Rizzoli & Isles’, ‘Ray Donovan’ etc.
Tina Lifford
Actress and playwright Tina Lifford plays the role of Violet Bordelon in ‘Queen Sugar’. Lifford is best known for her leading role as Joan Mosley in the Fox drama series ‘South Central’. She later starred in the NBC drama ‘Parenthood’. She has also acted in films like ‘Blood Work’, ‘Grand Canyon’ and ‘Hostage’.
The series also stars Nicholas L Ashe, Bianca Lawson, Ethan Hutchinson, Dondre Whitfield and others.
‘Queen Sugar’ Season 5 can be watched on Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) TV and OWN app from February 16, 2021, at 8 PM ET/PT.