Mekia Cox

"I'M PLAYING PRINCESS TIANA!!!!! Aaaaahh!!!!.....🙌🏾😜 Whew!.... U don't know how long I've been holding that one in. #OUAT @OnceABC"

- Mekia Cox src

Mekia Cox is the American actress who portrays Tiana and Sabine on ABC's Once Upon a Time.

Biography
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 show. Due to her proximity to Universal Studios, Cox was able to earn roles as a child actor in various Nickelodeon shows such as My Brother and Me, Keenan 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. Cox earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University in 2003 after being accepted to their Musical Theater program. After graduating, she performed the role of Sarah in Ragtime, the musical at Merry-Go-Round Theater in Auburn, New York. Cox then toured nationally for two years as Carmen in Fame as well as revisiting her role as Brenda in Smokey Joe's Café. After touring and landing her first television role she moved to Los Angeles, where she continues to reside.

Prior to her role on Undercovers, Cox made guest appearances on several television shows. In 2005, she appeared in CSI: NY, and Half & Half, and she appeared in One Tree Hill as Faith in season 3 episode 10 the following year. More recently she made a guest appearance on Bones and in four episodes of Paradise Hotel in 2008.

Cox was one of only two women selected for the 11-member dance group from a field of over 500 for the This Is It concert series. She was one of the featured dancers in the documentary film Michael Jackson's This Is It. She can be seen dancing with Jackson during the rehearsal of "The Way You Make Me Feel".

During the 2009 second season of 90210 she appeared in six episodes. She also appears in the fourth episode of season three (October 4, 2010). On October 29, 2009, she was one of the This is It dancers who appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to fulfill host Ellen DeGeneres' birthday wish.

She appeared in all first-season episodes of Undercovers. She plays a character named Lizzy Gilliam, who is the sister of the female lead and who is unaware of her family's involvement in Central Intelligence Agency activities. Originally, Jessica Parker Kennedy was cast in the role, but Cox replaced her in June 2010 before the first episode of the first season was aired in September 2010. In 2016, Cox appeared in the Modern Family episode "The Cover-Up". On August 23, 2016, Cox joined Chicago Med in a recurring role.

Trivia

 * In July 2017, Cox was first announced as a recurring cast member. The next month, it was revealed that she had been upped to series regular, starting with "Beauty".