American singer and actress Alexandra Ruth Shipp gained popularity for her roles as Kimberly Woodruff in the Oscar-nominated film Straight Outta Compton, and singer Aaliyah in the Lifetime television movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014).

Shipp made her acting debut in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in 2009. She later appeared as KT Rush in the third season of Nickelodeon’s mystery teen drama series House of Anubis.

Squaw Peak Elementary School, Arizona School for the Arts, and St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix are where Shipp received his education.

Arizona’s Phoenix is where Shipp was born. Her father is a musician, while her mother teaches Kundalini yoga.

Alexandra Shipp’s Parents

Her mother Amy Ruth is white, while her father James Shipp is black. James and Jordan are her two brothers, while Kasia is her stepsister.  At the age of 17, she relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

The actress, who embodies both cultures in the most beautiful way, claims to be proud of her roots.

Shipp claims in an interview that she grew up imitating both of her parents’ behaviors. In an interview, Shipp—who is also a committed musician—shared some of her early memories.

“My mom is a Kundalini yoga teacher, I grew up speaking Sanskrit, meditating, and doing morning Sat Nams. On the black side, I was baptized in Southern Baptist, and that’s all Funkadelic, George Duke, and all that jazz. My music is a representation of me because I’m not just one thing,” said Shipp in her interview in 2016.