Mekia Cox

Mekia Cox (born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and dancer, known for her recurring role as Sasha in the second and third seasons of The CW drama 90210, Dr. Robyn Charles in the NBC medical drama Chicago Med and her role as a dancer in the Michael Jackson concert series This Is It and the related film Michael Jackson's This Is It. In 2010, she co-starred as Lizzy Gilliam in the short-lived NBC spy drama Undercovers. She is also known for her role as Princess Tiana in the ABC fantasy drama Once Upon A Time and for her role as Detective Nyla Harper in the ABC police drama The Rookie. As a youth, Cox had a history of dance and theater training experience. Much of her early work was associated with Universal Studios and Nickelodeon. She continued to train in the performing arts in high school and college. Subsequently, she toured nationally in stage productions of musicals, including Fame. Early life and education Cox, a St. Croix native, moved with her family to Orlando, Florida, at age seven after spending five years of her youth studying dance in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1989, Cox was invited to participate in the Disney's Magic Kingdom Christmas Spectacular. As a child actor, Cox appeared in Nickelodeon shows, including My Brother and Me, Kenan and Kel and All That. Cox was a 1999 graduate of Dr. Phillips High School where she was enrolled in the Visual and Performing Arts magnet program for vocal performance. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University in 2003 after being accepted to their Musical Theater program. During her summers she worked at the Heritage Repertory Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she played roles in Smokey Joe's Cafe and Anything Goes one summer and performed as a recurring character in the Nickelodeon sitcom Noah Knows Best during another. Other regional theater credits include Rent, where she played club dancer and drug addict Mimi Márquez, the Chicago role of Liz, and Frenchie in Cabaret.