Sherri M. Saum is an American actress. Saum is best known for her co-lead role as Lena Adams Foster in the Freeform drama series The Fosters as well as a subsequent guest star role in its spinoff Good Trouble. She is also known for her television roles in Beggars and Choosers, Rescue Me and In Treatment, as well as for her roles in the daytime soap operasSunset Beach and One Life to Live.
Early life
Saum was born in Dayton, Ohio to a German mother and an African-American father. She got her start at a Model Search America convention near her home in Kettering, Ohio. She was discovered during high school, modeling mostly during summer breaks until she moved to New York to work full-time with the NY modeling agency Images Management. Saum attended Ohio State University in Columbus, and New York University in New York.
Career
Saum began her acting career in the NBC daytime soap opera, Sunset Beach as Vanessa Hart, during the entire run of the series, from 1997 to 1999. In 1999 she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the show. Later in 1999, Saum was cast as a series regular in the Showtime comedy-drama series Beggars and Choosers, and guest-starred on Girlfriends, and Charmed. From August 31, 2001 to September 16, 2003, Saum had her second daytime television role in the ABC soap, One Life to Live, as Keri Reynolds. From 2006 to 2007, Saum played the role of Natalie in the FX drama series Rescue Me. She appeared in the Hallmark Television filmRelative Stranger with Cicely Tyson and Eriq La Salle. She also appeared in the independent filmTen Stories Tall with Ally Sheedy and Josh Hamilton. In 2009 she played the series regular role of Bess in Season 2 of the HBO drama series In Treatment. The next few years she had guest-starring roles in CW's Gossip Girl, CBS's Unforgettable, ABC's Body of Proof and Revenge. In 2011, Saum was cast as the lead character of the ABC drama pilot Grace, opposite Abigail Spencer and Eric Roberts, but the show was not picked up. In 2012, Saum was cast along with Teri Polo in the lead roles of the Jennifer Lopez-produced drama series The Fosters for ABC Family. The series premiered on June 3, 2013. The series ended in 2018 after five seasons. She reprised her role in its spinoff, Good Trouble in 2019. In 2014, she guest starred in the NBC legal drama , and in 2015 in the ABC series, How to Get Away with Murder. In 2019, Saum co-starred opposite Jessica Biel in the Facebook Watch drama series Limetown. Also that year, she was cast as Heather Hemmens' character's mother in the CW series, Roswell, New Mexico. The following year, Saum was cast in a series regular role in the Netflix fantasy drama series, Locke & Key playing the role of Ellie Whedon, a teacher at Matheson Academy who has a mysterious history with the Locke family.
Personal life
On May 26, 2007, Saum married longtime boyfriend and former One Life to Live castmate Kamar de los Reyes in New York City. On December 3, 2013, Saum's rep announced the couple were expecting twins. They welcomed twin boys John Rubén and Michael Luís on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. Saum also has a stepson, Caylen de los Reyes, son of Kamar de los Reyes.
