Yolonda Ross was already a film-television veteran when cast on Showtime’s “The Chi,” but the Omaha native gained new fame playing series regular Jada Washington. She left cable’s longest-running Black drama at the end of season seven when Jada lost her long cancer battle. The eighth and final season concludes July 24.
Based in New York since her 20s, Ross emerged a serious character actor in provocative cable movies and indie films, notably the 2001 HBO women’s prison drama “Stranger Inside.” She’s been a guest star in prestige episodic (“Chicago Med,” “Law and Order”) and limited TV series (“How to Get Away With Murder,” “The Get Down,” “The Unit”). Big names she’s worked with include Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Helen Mirren, David Mamet, Edward James Olmos, Viola Davis, Jason Momoa, Baz Luhrman and more.
She’s also asserted herself as a producer-writer-director.
Motivated to give back, Ross has a long relationship with Reel Works, which provides free after school filmmaking and mentoring to New York City youth. She co-chaired its 2025 Change Makers Gala honoring SNL’s Kenan Thompson. Founder-CEO John C. Williams applauds her “passion for our mission to uplift young voices and build a more inclusive media industry – she is always open, gives more, opens doors, listens to and inspires our young people.”
On Oct. 14, Ross will return home to share her Black female empowerment story at the annual Girls Inc. Lunch for the Girls fundraiser at CHI Health Center. The event is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Girls Inc. CEO Candias Jones said Ross is a powerful example of what it means to be the nonprofit’s mantra – “strong, smart and bold.”
“I am excited for our girls to see someone who came from their own community build a career, use her voice and make an impact on such a large stage,” Jones said. “Representation matters, and stories like hers remind our girls their dreams are not too big.”
When sharing her story in Omaha, Ross said, she wants young people to see themselves in the best light.
“I’m excited to meet Yolonda Ross because I love art, and she’s from Omaha just like me,” Girls Inc. participant Mariyah M. said. “It’s exciting to see someone from here doing what they love. It makes me feel like my dreams can happen, too.”
Ross is conscious that girls like Mariyah will be watching closely with admiration and aspiration.
“I hope the girls leave knowing that where they begin doesn’t define where they can go, and that their voices, dreams and stories have value,” Ross said. “Sometimes all it takes is seeing someone who came from where you came from to believe that your own path is possible.”
Confirmation of her impactful presence well beyond Omaha came when Urban Magazine featured Ross on the cover of its 2026 women’s history month issue with the headline, “The Inimitable Yolonda Ross.” She’s pleased with the woman she’s become.
“I like her. I’m cool with how I carry myself. Anytime I’m out and about I’m always carrying myself a certain way, especially when speaking publicly,” she said.
Though she co-starred with Lisa Gay Hamilton in the 2013 John Sayles’ crime thriller “Go for Sisters” it wasn’t until “The Chi” launched in 2018 Ross got star billing as Jada, a single working mom on Chicago’s south side who became the anchor and soul of the series. An Ebony Magazine’s cover spread featuring Ross and her co-stars anointed her an emblem of everyday women taking care of family, work and love. Ross was praised for shaving her head on-camera to fully portray Jada’s cancer fight. BlackVybez Magazine dubbed her “Queen of ‘The Chi.’”
Away from “The Chi” she appeared in the 2019 indie feature “Bull” as the on-again, off-again girlfriend to the titular rodeo protagonist (Rob Morgan). The cast received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. In the 2021 award-winning dramatic short “Desmond’s Not Here Anymore” she played a daughter preparing to move her dementia-stricken mother out of the house where they share a traumatic past one cannot forget and the other can’t remember. The mother was played by S. Epatha Merkerson, whom Ross considers a mentor.
Ross appeared opposite Jon Bernthal in the 2022 Neo-noir series “American Gigolo” and with Liam Neeson in the 2024 action-thriller “Absolution.”
“I knew Liam already,” she said. “It’s funny, when I originally met him I was singing, I wasn’t acting. It’s kind of funny for him to now know me as an actor rather than as a friend, so it was really cool for us to get to do this other thing.”
In between “Gigolo” and “Absolution” she made her Chicago stage debut in Lisa Langford’s “How Blood Go” about two family members subjected to unauthorized medical experiments 50 years apart. She earned Outstanding Performance recognition from the Black Excellence Awards. “That play is amazing,” said Ross, who has done New York stage work as well. “I would love for it to come to New York and go further. It’s very interesting – kind of like Afro-futurism on stage. It deals with different time periods. It gets surreal. There’s switching of race. My character as a Black person doesn’t get equal care, but then as a white person the doctors pay my character attention and help her. It really talks about all these different things dealing with race and the health system.”
An ancestor of Langford was part of the Infamous Tuskegee Experiment that injected Black men with syphilis without their consent over four decades. Ross was struck by the dimensions of that human rights violation.
“I knew of this happening but did not realize it was going on for so many years,” she said.
Her awareness of the medical inequalities Black people face is not limited to characters she plays. During “The Chi’s” run, Ross publicly revealed she’s diabetic. She described a less-than-positive experience with a time-pressed corporate healthcare system physician who made her feel unseen and unheard.
“That was kinda ugly, I felt a way about it,” she said.
According to Ross, one of the challenges Black women face in medicine is not being listened to about their healthcare needs.
“We’re not taken as seriously as white women,” she said.
The perception of Black women as strong is true, she told a reporter but added, “Just because we have to take care of everything all the time, doesn’t mean there’s not a problem.”
In a “Chi” episode she expressed, as Jada, the all too common Black woman frustration of caring for everyone but herself:
“Staying strong is fucking exhausting. When you going to give me permission to just be? I’m so tired … of always trying to make everybody else feel good about my situation.”
Fresh off the series, Ross has three new feature films ready to release over the next year that display her range. In “SAMO Lives” she plays the mother of neo-expressionist Puerto Rican-Haitian American artist Jean Michel Basquiat (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). In “Flowers Para Los Muertos” she’s a former singer turned scheming real estate agent to buyer Aviva (Amy Hill). In “Don’t Ever Wonder” she’s a marriage therapist to Nia Long and Larenz Tate.
Creative to the core, Ross looks to sell her own content as a producer-writer-director. A dramatic short she wrote-produced-helmed and starred in, “Breaking Night” was well received at festivals and enjoyed a long life on streaming services. Its New Orleans setting was inspired by her work on “Treme,” which shot in the Crescent City. The film served as the music video for the Manfred Mann song “Blinded By the Light.”
A feature script she wrote and was slated to direct and star in, “Scenes from Our Marriage,” could not find funding. She still hopes to shoot that story about two Black artists navigating marriage and career. She got writing credits on three episodes of “American Gigolo” and made her TV directing debut in episode three (“Beneath the Icy Veil”), season eight of “The Chi.” With the right incentives, she’d love to realize one of her own projects back home in Nebraska.
Her many facets of self-expression extend to singing, fashion design, painting, and photography. Her home and others are filled with her creations.
She aligns herself with peers like Merkerson and Alfre Woodard, another mentor she shares agency with as powerful Black women. As an established veteran in her own right, Ross finds herself a role model and mentor for young Black women.
“It’s interesting to hear actresses say ‘When I saw you in this’ or ‘When you did that you stayed with me.’ In listening to interviews Birgundi Baker from ‘The Chi’ did for the show I was kind of floored hearing her talk about knowing my work from before and what it meant to be a brown-skinned woman doing what I do in this business,” she said.
Just like Jada, Ross has always been sure about who she is and what she wants. One of four high-achieving sisters, she was the most artistically inclined and independent of the bunch. A sister who commented to The Reader but asked that her name not be used, said, “She’s never been afraid to take chances or be unapologetically herself. She never worried about fitting into someone else’s mold, and honestly, that’s what makes her Yo.”
Ross made the leap to New York right out of high school, a move that could be considered courageous or risky.
“I didn’t see it that way,” Ross said. “If you are pursuing anything in the arts, Nebraska’s not the place for it, so if I was going to do my thing in fashion, in art, in music or anything like that I would have to go somewhere else. That was it, and I went somewhere else, I went to New York. It’s how you look at things. It was a new place to figure out, a new place to learn things. I mean, I feel like everything and every place there’s learning to be done.”
She believes some of her adventurousness and resolve came from supportive parents who encouraged their daughters to pursue dreams but mostly she thinks it’s just how she’s wired.
“If there’s something I want to see or do I’m going to go see or do it. I’m not waiting for somebody else, I’m not waiting for something else. I tend to just figure out how to get there, how to do it, how to do whatever. That’s me,” she said.
Her sister confirmed that “no” is not part of Yolonda’s vocabulary.
“Once she has a vision, she goes all in… It was crystal clear to everyone that once she graduated high school, she was getting on the first bus from Omaha straight to New York. Omaha was simply too small to contain all of that talent and ambition.”
Ross prepared herself to make the leap.
“Everything was work towards that. I played instruments, I painted, sang, sewed, made clothes, all of that stuff is creating,” she said. “I did whatever came to mind there was to do in school.”
Ironically, given her acting career, she was never a theater kid. For their own amusement Ross and her sisters performed their own versions of songs as a quartet. As for how serious Yolonda’s fashion goal was, she once left home for school in one outfit and returned with all new attire she made in class.
The Omaha Burke graduate went East to pursue a fashion career. She has her own tote bag line today. Early on, other doors opened and she boldly went through them, Thus, she sang jazz in clubs, appeared as a background actor in “Saturday Night Live” sketches and in Woody Allen’s “Celebrity” and landed guest acting roles on dramatic series like “New York Undercover.”
Then everything changed with “Stranger Inside.” One of its producers P. David Ebersole, vividly remembers walking past a monitor in the Los Angeles production office during casting sessions, stopping dead in his tracks, and asking, “Who is that?”
“While she quickly became our frontrunner,” said Ebersole producing partner Todd Hughes, “the director and executive team were initially noncommittal and planned to continue the search. David actually stood up in a meeting and asked if everyone was crazy, emphasizing that Yolonda was the definitive choice for the role. The team conferred, realized he was absolutely right, and she was cast.”
Ross appreciated being in good hands on that pivotal project.
“That’s my beginning – both of them,” she said referring to Ebersole and Hughes, with whom she’s worked several times since.
Treasure’s search for connection while incarcerated leads to a shocking discovery. In that moment, Hughes said, Ross “has a kind of bodily reaction that simply can’t be scripted – that’s part of her magic, what she brings that is not on the page.”
Her ability “to be entirely raw and real” turned heads,’ said Hughes, adding that “her performance was widely hailed as a major discovery,” earning her Independent Spirit and Black Reel nominations and the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor.
Ross considers Treasure as not just a great lead debut but “a great raw performance, period.”
“Jada is so much a part of me,” Ross said. “So it was like putting on something and the audience seeing her through me. I would say the two melded together. You know, I’m grounded, she’s grounded. Jada, like most women, uses common sense. That I feel is the base of what makes Jada function. A Black single mother who does what she needs to to take care of her child, to take care of herself.”
Ross’ sister echoes the fans.
“Jada’s a straight shooter who loves her family fiercely and would do whatever was necessary to protect them.” So it shouldn’t come as a surprise, she said, “that’s Yolonda in real life, too.”
Getting to play Jada for seven years meant revealing ever more shades.
“To go through her beating cancer, not beating cancer, reuniting with her ex, all those things, just going through life with Jada. That’s what really moved me as far as being this character for so long – seeing all these different sides of her,” Ross said.
Though she didn’t directly input the scripts, she felt writers knew what makes her tick as Ross and that essence shaped who Jada became.
“I’m not a mother, I’m not a nurse, I’m not any of the things she actually is, besides being a Black woman, but I feel at the same time I did inform her with things because I know what it feels like to be that woman,” Ross explained. “And I feel like there’s Jadas in everybody’s life, whether a woman at work, your mom, your sister, your aunt. People know that character. To bring those elements out is what Yolonda got to do.”
Those elements included shaving her head in solidarity with the cancer walk so many women make and that some, like her own aunt Billie Dixon and best friend Ruth Starns, don’t finish. Dixon died at age 60 and Starns at 39. Researching and dramatizing Jada’s journey helped Ross speak about the losses for the first time.
The idea for a shorn head came from the show’s hair designer, Denise Baker, who lost two siblings to breast cancer. Ross, who had a full head of hair, told the Sun-Times, “I didn’t hesitate when she called out of the blue and suggested it. I just said, ‘Yes,’ The day before, I was nervous, excited at the same time. I cried afterward. But I wanted to make sure, while bringing Jada’s cancer journey to life onscreen, that we never devalued Black women’s emotions or emotional journeys. I wanted this portrayal of a Black single woman going through cancer to be honest and insightful. I believe we accomplished that.”
Her concern extended to making photos of women supported by the South Chicago-based TC Joiner foundation that advocates for women of color who, Ross said, “many times are taking care of family and don’t have anyone to help them navigate the cancer journey.”
The portraits feature women in the group The Butterflies, whose name refers to their metamorphosis.
“I wanted to gift them portraits of themselves,” Ross said. “They were dressed in vintage items. I asked them for a word they felt described them and that became the name of their portrait. And from there they gave me everything. They are all so regal and gorgeous. Large, framed portraits were sold at a gallery event. On my website limited prints are sold with a portion of proceeds going to the foundation.”
Through the process of dramatizing Jada’s journey and sharing actual women’s experiences, Ross became an advocate for reversing healthcare disparities Black women face.
“Black women statistically are the least to be diagnosed and the most to do die of cancer,” she said.
Jada’s health struggle gave fans another reason to connect with her as few families are unaffected by cancer. Being part of a history-making show made Ross proud.
“It means a lot because few Black shows or shows period last that long so for us to be able to bring these characters to life for eight years and to touch people for that long means we’ve gotten to go through a lot through the show together,” Ross said.
Her run on the show ending, she said, has meant exploring new opportunities, That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt saying goodbye.
“It is sad to put an end to those characters, to that world, to not seeing those actors anymore in this context because we all did get very close,” she said, added she’s confident bonds made on the show will endure. “Yeah, more than a few, definitely. We were all in it together and we have that connection moving forward.”
While the industry has embraced an unprecedented surge of Black content the last two decades, she said the suits who run things have also “closed a lot of doors.” In terms of the future, she said, “I don’t exactly know where we’re going right now. It feels like the industry is such a mess. Usually out of messes amazing things rise … so I guess we’ll see.”
She’s concerned with the consolidation of production companies.
“Things are not selling. There’s only so many places for things to go,” Ross said. “As far as things getting made they’re either hundreds of millions of dollars or they want something to be like almost nothing, and even then for the almost nothing (budgets) you have a hard time getting that made.
“The industry is dealing with getting people into theaters versus watching content on TV or their mobile devices. What they’re really pushing now are micro dramas. Personally, I’m not somebody that watches a film on my phone.”
Creators like her are worried about AI, which she calls “probably the biggest issue going on right now.” Their worst fear is AI putting people out of work. With so much happening all at once and AI’s impact still to be seen, it’s an ever-changing landscape.
In terms of celebrating Black culture, “The Chi” hit at the right moment.
“We were a big part of what was happening on TV,” she said.
All her new film projects are ethnically diverse stories. The Netflix dramedy “Don’t Ever Wonder” directed by Eugene Ashe and featuring an all-star ensemble cast, is inspired by soul and R&B artist Maxwell’s Urban “Hang Suite” album (1996).
“It’s Nia Long and Larenz Tate. Not the same characters they portrayed in that movie ‘Love Jones’ (1997) they’re so known for. It’s seeing love and life at another age and I think it’s going to be a classic,” Ross said.
Playing a therapist refereeing couples’ issues is tame for Ross, who’s done her share of gritty, boundary-pushing material in “Stranger Inside,” “Antwone Fisher” and “Short Bus.” She displayed versatility as filmmaker Dana Lyndsey in “Treme,” streetwise friend/landlord Lizzy in “American Gigolo,” Whitney Houston’s alleged lover Robyn Crawford in “Whitney” and exuberant “Woman” opposite “Thug” Liam Neeson in “Absolution.”
If she doesn’t already know an actor with whom she’ll be doing intense or intimate work, she makes a point of getting to know them and their vibe.
“I like to just meet people at first so I can understand their energy. That’s for your own safety, for your own knowledge. That’s important for me. There’s some moments where things get kind of hectic, so it’s an understanding, talking about what we can do so this thing visually looks a certain way, and how to do a certain scene so that it gives the friction that’s needed without getting hurt or anything like that. Just all that kind of stuff.”
Being in sync with another actor she said is all about being present in the moment and truthfully reacting to each other. “It’s totally listening.”
In “SAMO Lives” she has heartfelt moments as Mathilde with her artist son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), who gained fame with his graffiti art that used the copyright tag SAMO (short for same old crap).
“I would say the two of them had a closeness and a connection that was unique to them outside the rest of the family. His mother used to take him to the Brooklyn Museum. That was the two of them.” He became the oldest child in his family when older brother Max died shortly before Basquiat’s birth. “So there’s that connection as the oldest (surviving) child,” Ross said.
She enjoyed playing off Harrison as Basquiat.
“I feel like Kelvin has a quiet intensity,” Ross said. “You don’t know exactly what to expect from him, so it keeps you alert.”
About the film’s writer-director Julius Onah, she said, “Basquiat’s been in his head for decades, so when you have somebody that knows something inside and out they know exactly what they want. He was very clear as a director.”
Shooting in New Jersey-New York gave her the rare opportunity to work on a project close to home.
She reunited with old producer pals Ebersole and Hughes on their new dark comedy film, “Flowers Para Los Muertos.” When photographer Aviva (Hill) inherits a house in Mexico, shady realtor Raven (Ross) stages supernatural events to try and get her out in order to make a quick sale. Plans change when the house turns out to be really haunted.
According to Hughes, “It’s a homage to the gloriously artificial, saturated Technicolor melodramas” produced by Ross Hunter and directed by Douglas Sirk in the 1950s.” There’s unmistakable nods to Universal horror and Mexican telenovelas as well.
From when the producers first worked with her through today, Hughes said they have found Ross to be “a consummate professional – she possesses a rare gift for finding the core of a character and making them deeply engaging, which makes collaborating with her an absolute pleasure.”
With “Flowers” the producers, who also wrote the piece, realized a dream “of creating a project where Yolonda could be overtly gorgeous, sexy and funny,”
“Yolonda is absolutely stunning, glamorous and magnetic in the film,” Hughes said. “She showcases brilliant comedic timing. Because her character is a former one-hit-wonder pop star, she delivers a rock vocal performance that highlights her incredible voice. “
The bi-lingual film shot in Meridian, Yucatan, Mexico.
“We stayed in the same house while shooting,” Ross said. “It was a very close-knit cast and crew, so we got to know each other’s energy well, who the characters were, and understanding the directors-writers. I think all of that just played into us having fun with each other and putting it on the screen.”
It is the rare contemporary film in which two mature women carry the whole story.
“Yeah, it was totally fun and we (she and Amy Hill) were up for it. We’ve been around. We knew how to get through it with ease,” Ross said. It marks Hill’s lead feature debut.
Experience has its advantages.
“That’s always a good thing on set – people that know what they’re doing – to make the day easy. It can even help directors who maybe can’t figure something out,” she said. “Between Amy and myself with all the different sets we’ve been on we can work through it and help people to move things along.”
Ebersole and Hughes plan more collaborations with Ross, including producing her debut album.
Just as with Reel Works, she’s eager to help Girls Inc. further its mission. When she got the invite from the Omaha nonprofit she made a point to visit its North Omaha site.
“Ms. Yolonda did come visit and fell in love with our site immediately,” said CEO Candias Jones. “We fell in love with her, too.” The artist is impressed by the facility and what happens there. “That space is amazing. It’s really beautiful what they have and everything that they do,” Ross said.
Ross is in good company as a Lunch for the Girls speaker. Past guests have included Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Madeleine Albright,, Barbara Bush, Jenna Bush Hager, Billie Jean King and Nikki Giovanni. She joins Omaha headliners Warren Buffett, Symone Sanders, Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar.
“Looking at the remarkable people who have stood on this stage before me,” Ross said, “I feel both honored and humbled. They’ve each used their voices to create change in their own way. To now have the opportunity to share my story with the next generation of young women is something I don’t take lightly.”
This consummate actress who’s conquered Hollywood insists, “I am not the best speaker. I get nervous. So I’m not going to stand up there and just talk. It will be a conversation-style format, with questions asked by the moderator and audience members asking things, too.”
One thing is sure – she won’t hide her true self.
“Yeah, no reason to, you know.”
That’s just how Yo rolls.
Individual tickets to the Girls Inc. event featuring Ross can be purchased via Givebutter beginning July 15.