Who is Yaya DaCosta? Her Husband (Joshua Bee Alafia), Body, Age, Bio

Yaya DaCosta is a former model-actress best known for portraying the late singer Whitney Houston on Whitney (2015) and April Sexton on the television series Chicago Med (2015 – Present).

The American actress, who is African-Brazilian of African-American descent, was a runner-up in the third cycle of Tyra Banks’ America’s Next Top Model (2004) before pursuing a somewhat successful career in modeling and acting. Read on to learn more about her personal life, marriage, and other ventures.

Who is Yaya DaCosta? Biography (Age)

Yaya DaCosta was born Camara DaCosta Johnson on November 15, 1982 to Carl Awolowo Johnson and Orundun Dacosta Johnson in Harlem, New York, where she grew up with her sister and two brothers.

DaCosta graduated from elite Northfield Mount Hermon School, where she began acting. Thanks to further encouragement from her acting teacher, who led her to audition for major television roles, since she was already stealing shows at school, DaCosta landed her first acting job at the age of eleven.

Despite showing signs of blacksmithing proficiency as an actress, Yaya DaCosta chose not to attend art or drama school in order to further hone her craft. She chose instead to go to Ivy League Brown University, where she majored in African Studies and International Relations.

Upon graduation, DaCosta looked to forge a modeling career and was subsequently selected to participate in the third cycle of America’s Next Top Model, where she took on the second role with actress Eva Marcille. However, she did have a successful career as a model, appearing in ads for companies such as Sephora, Radioshack, Garnier Fructis and Oil of Olay, among others.

In 2006, Yaya DaCostaa made her feature film acting debut in Take the Lead opposite Rob Brown and Antonio Banderas, following a guest appearance on the sitcom Eve (2005). While working on other independent projects such as John Sayle’s ”Honeydripper” (2007) and ABC Studios ”All My Children” (2008), DaCosta made her Off-Broadway debut at The Signature Theater in 2008 in The First Breeze vom Sommer”. Her performance on stage was enthusiastically received by her and she won the Vivian Robinson / AUDELCO Recognition Award for Excellence in Black Theatre.

After that, DaCosta appeared as Nico Slater in the final season of the comedy series ‘Ugly Betty’ (2009), then in Lisa Cholodenko’s comedy film ‘The Kids Are All Right’ (2010), where she occasionally played Mark Ruffalo’s lover, and then in the science fiction film ‘Tron: Legacy’ (2010).

In the early 2010s, DaCosta briefly stepped back on the cover of American fashion magazine W, as well as other respected magazines such as Vogue and L’Officiel. She also continued to appear in films such as ‘In Time’ (2011), ‘Whole Lotta Sole’ (2011), The Butler (2013) with Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey before being cast as Whitney Houston in Angela Bassett’s directorial debut .

Beginning in 2015, DaCosta played April Sexton in Dick Wolf’s Chicago Med while also seeking other challenging film roles.

Yaya DaCosta’s Husband (Joshua Bee Alafia)

Yaya DaCosta was previously married to Joshua BeeAlafia, who works as an independent film producer and director. He is known for films such as ‘Cubamor’ (2001), ‘The Seed’ (2010) and ‘Se Safando’ (2012).

The duo reportedly traded places on June 26, 2012 in Pennsylvania, and welcomed a son named Sankara Alafia in September 2013. After only two years of marriage, the couple reportedly split with DaCosta in 2014 and filed for divorce from Alafia on November 12, 2015.

In an unanticipated turn of the DaCosta – Alafia relationship saga, Yaya DaCosta reveled to African American women’s lifestyle magazine madamenoire.com, which asked her about the divorce, with which she said she and her allegedly estranged husband are actually not married be. She added that they were in a relationship that ended after she gave birth to his child.