Nicole Beharie /bɪˈhɑːri/ (born January 3, 1985) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles in the drama film American Violet (2008), the drama Shame (2011), and the biographical sports drama 42 (2013). From 2013 to 2017, she starred in the Fox supernatural drama series Sleepy Hollow.
Beharie was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. When Beharie was little, her father was in the Foreign Service, so she grew up in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Nigeria and Panama. She attended Orangeburg Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and is a 2003 graduate of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, a public residential high school in Greenville. Beharie was then accepted into Juilliard School, one of the most prestigious performing arts conservatories in the United States (Drama division Group 36: 2003–07). She was awarded a Shakespeare scholarship and trained in England.