Numa Perrier


Numa Perrier is a Haitian-American actress, director, writer, producer and visual artist. She is the co-founder of Black&Sexy TV. Her first feature film, Jezebel, premiered at SXSW in 2019.

Early life

Perrier was born in Haiti on December 14, 1979, adopted and raised in Washington state in a family of eight children. She got to know her biological mother when she was 17. Perrier moved to Las Vegas in late adolescence and did online sex work as a cam girl to make money. Her savings allowed her to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in visual art.

Career

Perrier co-founded Black&Sexy TV, a network of several shows created for Black American audiences, with former romantic partner Dennis Dortch in 2008. Their first production was a film called A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy, which premiered at Sundance and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures. Beginning in 2011 they used YouTube to post their content. Notable shows include The Couple, The Number, Hello Cupid and RoomieLoverFriends.
Perrier directed her first feature film Jezebel, starring Tiffany Tenille, in Las Vegas in 2017. The film is semi-autobiographical and draws on Perrier's experience as an online sex worker; Perrier also plays a supporting role in the film. Jezebel premiered at SXSW in March 2019, and has received positive critical reviews. THR selected Jezebel as one of its "Best of SXSW 2019" picks. Array Releasing acquired the film in 2019 with a limited theatrical run and debut on Netflix January 16, 2020. The Los Angeles Times refers to Perrier as "a very fine naturalistic actor" and gave further praise to her filmmaking noting her "striking handling and welcome thoughtfulness of style"
Perrier played a supporting role on HBO's SMILF prior to its cancellation. She also directed an episode of the fourth season of Queen Sugar.
She has a production company called House of Numa.

Personal life

Perrier has one daughter, Rockwelle, with Dennis Dortch. Dortch and Perrier split up between 2016 and 2017.