Yetide Badaki

Yetide Badaki (born September 24, 1981) is a Nigerian-American actress. She is best known for playing Bilquis on the Starz series American Gods.

Early life
Badaki was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. Before moving to England, Badaki lived in Nigeria for three years. At the age of 6, she returned to Nigeria. Finally, she settled in America at age twelve. She is a graduate of McGill University with a major in English Literature (Theater) and a minor in Environmental Science. Badaki also has a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Illinois State University.

Career
Badaki received a 2006 Jeff Award nomination for Best Actress in a Principal Role (Play) for I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda. She has received positive reviews for her portrayal of Bilquis on American Gods. For the television series, the character of Bilquis was expanded from the novel. In 2018, Badaki played the recurring character Chi Chi on This Is Us.

Badaki has written a short film called In Hollywoodland, which she funded with IndieGoGo. Badaki and Karen David produced and starred in the short film while Jessica Sherif directed it. In Hollywoodland is a re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland set in present-day Los Angeles. In Hollywoodland premiered in August 2020 at the Bentonville Film Festival.

Badaki played the mother of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2022 biographical movie Rise for Disney Plus.

In 2023, Deadline announced that Badaki was developing a Nigerian vampire series titled Naija Vamp with Prentice Penny and Sebastian A. Jones, as both a comics series and a TV series.

Badaki has also played the notable role of an Illyrian attorney, Neera Ketoul in 2023 in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wherein she saved fellow Illyrian, Una Chin-Riley from dishonorable discharge and 20 years in a Federation penal colony for lying about the genetic engineering that she received, going against the Federation’s codes.

Personal life
She became a United States citizen in 2014. In 2021, Badaki revealed that she is bisexual.