Born to an activist, jazz singing, Polish and German mother and an "Andre 2000" type African-American and Puerto-Rican artist father in the historic town of Berkeley, California, it didn't take long for Onika Day to develop a passion to entertain. After winning several poetry competitions, local talent shows dancing in street competitions by the age of 12 and her acceptance to the Berkeley Arts Magnet School, her mother noticed her talent early and secured a scholarship for Onika with the Bay Area Youth Theatre, where she studied Acting, Dance (Afro-Haitian, Jazz, Tap) and Voice, starring in several of their seasonal productions.Once Onika reached Berkeley High School, known for its cultural diversity and radical student body, she balanced her love for acting alongside a passion for sports where she earned several local titles with the Women's Water Polo and Basketball and Swim teams.Onika's big brother, Sway Calloway, from "MTV" and the "World Famous Wake Up show", noticed her talents. He convinced her to record drops and create different on air characters while he hosted the "10 o'clock Bomb" show, during his early radio days at KMEL. He knew these opportunities would keep Onika distracted from the "glamour" of the hustle in the gritty streets of Oakland where many friends and family were lost to urban violence.Onika then decided to move to Los Angeles and begin the actor hustle, auditioning and networking while financing her dream working as a Personal Chef for NBA Stars Nick Van Exel and Sam Cassell, an alternative to waiting tables. She soon caught a lucky break when Tupac Shakur asked her to be one of the three starring girls in one of his last recorded music videos "2 Live and Die in LA". She then made a few more appearances in other music videos with Missy Elliot and Obie Trice and Akon.Her move to television came while she was visiting a friend in New York. Onika ran into Johnny Mack on the set of "Bait", who happened to be the director of a past video she starred in and Jamie Foxx's best friend. Already familiar with her talents, he helped her get a small part on "The Jaime Foxx Show" to acquire her SAG card.Onika's hunger to develop her craft brought her to study with the prestigious Robey Theatre Company in Los Angeles, founded by Danny Glover and soon the artistic director asked her to join the cast of "For The Love Of Freedom" a trilogy about the Haitian Revolution, produced by the company which earned her and the cast an NAACP theater award for "Best Ensemble" among awards the play generated.People started to notice this intelligent, yet street smart talent and Onika began securing several starring roles in the LA Independent Film community opposite Gary Dourdan (CSI), Benjamin Watkins (Young & the Restless), rapper Mack 10, Clifton Powell (Ray, Friday After Next) among countless others and was blessed to have every film she was in, tour film festival circuits worldwide.This year, you can see the young starlet guest starring in an episode of "Law & Order" opposite Jesse L. Martin, one of the new "lost" episodes of "The Chappelle's Show" (soon to be determined release) and a small part alongside Sean "Puffy" Combs in the new Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (2005) (V) also starring Jay Hernandez ("Friday Night Lights") and Luis Guzman ("Anger Management", "Traffic").Onika Day divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.
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