What movies has Leah Sava Jeffries been in? Her Age, Family, Bio
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For the past year, the talented Leah Sava Jeffries has been making a lot of noise in the entertainment industry, through her role as Annabeth Chase in the popular “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series.
Nonetheless, Leah’s young but successful career goes beyond her breakthrough role. Besides appearing in several TV productions, the young actress has played memorable roles in movies such as “Faith Under Fire”, “Something From Tiffany’s” and the drama-filled “Beast”. Playing diverse characters has allowed Leah to demonstrate not only her talent, but also how promising her future is in Hollywood.
Who Is Leah Sava Jeffries?
Leah Sava Jeffries was born on 25 September 2009, in Detroit, Michigan USA. She’s the second child of Leah Stacks and Floyd Stanley Jeffries, who also have a son named Floyd III. By 2022, Leah was enrolled in Michigan’s Novi Middle School, where her teachers described her as ‘someone who cares a lot about her friends’ and whom people ‘gravitate to’.
Leah’s mother is an entrepreneur and producer, who founded LeeJeff Production in 2017. She’s also a radio personality at the Detroit-based 910AM Superstation, hosting the “Detroit Live with Aaron & Leah” show from 2015 to 2017 when she passed to host “The Leah Live Show”.
On his part, Leah’s father Floyd is a Production Manager at a nationwide manufacturer, while her brother Floyd III is an actor, songwriter, and creative director who is currently studying at Eastern Michigan University.
Given Leah’s family’s creative inclinations, it’s not a wonder that she’s been involved with the creative industry from an early age. According to a 2015 report, Leah started her modeling career before she was five years old, appearing in ads for the beauty company Carol’s Daughter,
Earliest Roles
Leah Sava Jeffries made her TV debut at five years old, when she played the role of Lola in the popular drama series “Empire”. Although Lola’s appearance in the show was only meant to last a couple of episodes, her charisma and personality gained her several other appearances, as “Empire” casting director Claire Simon told Detroit Free Press in 2015.
Regarding the casting process to get into a big production at such a young age, it was reported that Leah was contacted by her agency at the time, leading the family to take her for some readings in Chicago. Reportedly, once Leah started ‘showing her personality’ to the people on set, she automatically got the role, on top of being guided by her co-star Raven-Symone to comfortably perform their scenes together.
Although the character Lola stopped appearing in the series following the second season, Leah’s career still moved forward. In 2018, she was Fiona in the made-for-TV movie “Faith Under Fire”, played the character Erica in “Rel”, a comedy starring Lil Rel Howery, and the following year, she was Monique in the comedy “PawParazzi”.
In 2022, Leah made her film debut as Norah Samuels in “Beast”, co-starring alongside Idris Elba. Also that year, she was Daisy in the movie “Something from Tiffany’s”.
Rise To Fame
Leah Sava Jeffries’s breakthrough role was as Annabeth Chase, one of the main characters of the series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” based on the book of the same name. The series filming began in mid-2022, after over two years of development, and premiered in December 2023.
Leah was first called for her audition in 2021, though at that point she didn’t consider herself a big fan of the “Percy Jackson” franchise. Nevertheless, re-reading the books helped Leah to ‘re-imagine’ the role of Annabeth to make it hers, as she told TeenVogue in 2023.
The audition process for “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” took some time, with some long periods between the callbacks. Yet Leah affirms feeling that she’d found a place in the series right after the first casting meeting, sensing that ‘something had clicked’ within her, motivating her even more to get the role.
Regarding her favorite parts of filming the series, Leah enjoyed the ‘tunnel of love’ scene for being the moment in which Annabeth and Percy’s characters ‘started to get closer’, as she told ScreenRant.
It’s unclear what projects Leah will do in the future, but it’s clear that “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has surely opened great professional doors for her.
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Recognition & Media Coverage
In 2023, Leah Sava Jeffries was nominated for an Outstanding Performance by a Youth award at the NAACP Image Awards for her works portraying Annabeth Chase.
This accomplishment is not only important considering how young Leah’s career is but also for the backlash she received after the casting of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” was announced, as internet users criticized the choice of a Black woman to portray a character described as White in the books the series is based on.
Not long after the controversy broke, the saga’s author Rick Riordan came to Leah’s defense by affirming that she got the role for her merits as a talented actress, and that she had ‘the energy and enthusiasm’ that Annabeth also had. He also denounced the ‘bullying and harassment’ suffered by Leah, describing it as ‘inexcusably wrong’.
Other people involved with the series such as Alexandria Daddario, who previously played Annabeth’s character in other productions, showed their public support for Leah’s casting.
Leah has received other forms of recognition for her work as Annabeth, getting coverage from platforms such as TeenVogue, and Variety, on top of being interviewed by “Today”, “Access Hollywood” and many others. Her popularity online has also wildly increased, as Leah is close to hitting the 900,000 followers mark on Instagram.
Personal Life
Given her young age, information about Leah Sava Jeffries’ dating life is unknown.
Regarding her relationship with her family, in 2023 Leah told Essence that the ‘biggest influence’ in her life is her mother. According to the young actress, she’s the ‘mini-version’ of her mother, not only for sharing the same name, but also because she’s the one to help Leah get her hair done and pick her clothes. Other big influences in Leah’s life are her aunties and grandmother, for giving her ‘inspiration’.
With that being said, Leah appears to be very close to her father and brother too, as she’s never afraid to show her love and appreciation for them on social media.
Physical Appearance & Net Worth
Leah Sava Jeffries is an Afro-American girl. She has brown eyes and curly, raven hair. According to her IMDB page, Leah is currently 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, weight unknown.
While some sources state that Leah’s net worth is $500,000, this estimation may be exaggerated considering her young career in the entertainment industry. Then, it’s almost sure that her fortune will grow in the next few years.
