Mykal-Michelle Harris is an Emmy Award-winning American child actress, who’s probably best known for her appearance in the TV series’ “Raven’s Home” and “Mixed-ish.”
Age, Early Life, and Education Background
Mykal-Michelle is a native of Delran, Burlington County, New Jersey, born under the Pisces zodiac sign on 6 March 2012, which makes her 12 years old as of 2024. She is the daughter of Kimberly Harris and Greg Harris, and is being brought up alongside three siblings: two brothers and a sister – one of her brothers is Julian Harris. Harris began expressing an interest in entertaining others, storytelling, and acting at the tender age of three, and with the support of her mom and family, she started auditioning and attending acting workshops at a young age. She’s disclosed that her dream is to become a director.
Mykal-Michelle’s educational background remains unknown – she’s probably being home-schooled.
Hobbies and Interests
Mykal-Michelle has disclosed that her favorite fast food is New York-style pizza.
In addition to acting, the New Jersey native is actively involved in philanthropic endeavors, serving as an ambassador for various charity organizations focusing on promoting education and empowering young girls.
Harris is a fashionista who’s planning to launch a clothing line with her mother, selling jumpsuits, dresses, hoodies, and other designs.
She finds animals adorable, and in an interview disclosed that her mom had refused to get her a pet.
When she’s free from school and work, the young actress spends her time watching films and one of her favorites is “Black Panther.”
Mykal-Michelle, who goes by the nickname ‘Mimi’, is also into dancing and is very skilled at it. Moreover, she spends her spare time listening to music. One of her best-loved artists is Serena Williams.
Career Beginnings
On 3 September 2015, Kimberly posted her daughter’s video “Like Serena” on Facebook, stating that she looked exactly like the American (now retired) tennis player Serena Williams – the video went viral and accumulated a million views in a week. It even caught the attention of the American national Chase Bank, which offered the family free tickets to William’s next US Open game. Harris’ newly found fame saw her invited in several interviews – she appeared in “Good Morning America”, and was also featured in interviews with “The Huffington Post” and CNN.
Harris wanted to begin acting when she was three years old, but in late 2015, her manager, who’s based in New York, recommended that she start by appearing in commercials because she was too young for television. She soon landed a role in an IMB Watson commercial after auditioning with dozens of other kids, who were ultimately disqualified. She later appeared in Burlington Coat Factory’s national campaign.
Subsequently, Harris’ family relocated to Los Angeles, California, in search of steady work. Shortly afterward, she landed a four-year contract with the fashion doll firm, L.O.L. Surprise, serving as their face.
Film and TV Appearances and Early Roles
One of Mykal-Michelle’s earliest appearances was in the 2016 short film “The Gospel,” in which she played Sade. In 2017, she played a minor role in the TV drama “A Kid Called Mayonnaise”, and in the same year appeared in an episode of the chat show, “Little Big Shorts,” two episodes of the TV series “The Substitute,” and in 11 episodes of “L.O.L. Surprise! Unboxed.”
2019 was a very busy year for Harris; she appeared in numerous talk shows including “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, and made guest appearances in four episodes of “Big Little Lies” and three episodes of “The Affair.”
Rise to Stardom and Continued Success
Mykal-Michelle’s fame skyrocketed when she landed the starring role of Santamonica Johnson, a sassy music lover, who’s always playing with her siblings as she tries to fit in with her family, in the ABC TV sitcom, “Mixed-ish.” The sitcom follows the childhood experiences of Rainbow Johnson, a matriarch from the TV series “Black-ish,” as she’s brought up in a multi-racial family in the 1980s. Harris appeared in all 36 episodes (2019-2021), and shared the screen with Arica Himmel, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tika Sumpter, and Luca Luhan.
From 2019-2022, Harris hosted a few episodes of “Red Carpet Report”, and in 2021 hosted 20 episodes of the Peacock late-night children’s talk show, “The Kids Night Show.” Moreover, Harris hosted two episodes of the chat show “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Between 2021 and 2023, Harris voiced Lem and other additional characters in six episodes of the Cartoon Network animated series, “Summer Camp Island,” and in 2022 and 2023, she voiced London in five episodes of the animated TV show, “Ada Twist, Scientist.”
Harris landed her next career-defining role portraying Alice Baxter in 43 episodes in 2022 and ’23, of Disney Channel’s family sitcom “Raven’s Home,” which revolves around Raven Baxter (Raven-Symone), a divorced mom of the twins Nia (Navia Robinson) and Booker (Isaac Ryan Brown), who lives with her childhood friends, Chelsea Daniels (Anneliese van der Pol) and her son in Chicago. In an interview with “On The Red Carpet,” Mykal-Michelle stated that ‘being in “Raven’s Home” was an absolute “dream come true” and working with ‘Auntie Ray’ made my experience!’
Most recently, in 2023 Harris voiced Ava in the TV miniseries “Well-Versed.”
Award Nominations
Of the two awards she’s been nominated for, Harris has bagged one as of early 2024. In 2022, she was nominated for a Children’s & Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for her performance in “The Kids Tonight Show.” She won the same award in the category of Outstanding Younger Performer in a Preschool, Children’s, or Young Teen Program for her performance in “Raven’s Home” in 2023.
Social Media Presence
Mykal-Michelle is active on Instagram (@mykalscorner) with nearly 120,000 followers. She’s also active on Facebook with over 3,500 followers.
Personal Life
Harris is too young to be dating anyone and is presumably busy with her career and early education. She’s very close with her mom, whom she appears alongside in most of her interviews.
Height, Weight, and Physical Appearance
Harris is of Afro-American roots, and has a pair of dark brown eyes and black hair. She stands 4ft 2ins (1.27m) tall but her weight remains undisclosed; her body measurements will change as she attains her full body potential.
Net Worth
At just 11 years old, Mykal-Michelle has already made a notable impact in the American entertainment industry. Her passion and dedication have seen her become famous and fairly rich – she’s authoritatively worth around $2 million, as of 2024.
