If you don’t know who Keke Palmer is, be assured you will soon. She’s the 23-year-old fashion chameleon who’s enigmatic onscreen and off. While she’s had a record deal since she was 13, she’s no label invention. And, though she took on her first Hollywood lead role at just nine years old, she’s certainly not a manufactured child star. Keke is a new breed of Hollywood.
Keke is best known for playing Zayday Willaims in Scream Queens, but out of hours, her style is anything but preppy sorority girl. She rarely shies away from a statement-making pieces (ahem that Leo DiCaprio denim bikini top for instance). Her wardrobe consists of bondage underwear as outerwear, skater brands, vintage-fit jeans and Vetements. With the help of her stylist Michael Benyamin, she consistently redefines her signature style. One second she spotted tackling a hot-property designer item, the next she’s getting stalked by the paparazzi in some lazy-day sportswear. Get to know the straight-talking, Daily Mail favourite now with 17 essentials facts about her:
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The 23-year-old singer and actress
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She was born in Harvey, Illinois.
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Though she goes by Keke her full name is Lauren Keyana (Keke) Palmer.
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Acting is in her blood as her parents, ma and pa Sharon and Larry Palmer, met at a drama class.
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Her first role was in Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) when she was aged just nine-years-old.
Credit: Instagram @Kekepalmer
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At age 13 she released her first album with Atlantic Records after music bosses heard her performance on the soundtrack of Akeelah and the Bee (2006), which she also starred in. Natch.
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By 15, she landed a part in her own Nickelodeon show, True Jackson.
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Now 22, she plays Zayday Williams in Scream Queens, is signed to Island Records and is working on her first non-fiction book. AND, she is starring in and producing the film, Pimp.
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Her character Zayday Williams’ is best known for the line: ‘Bitch, I'm about to smack you so hard your tampon's gonna pop out.’
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As a POC magazines have pushed her on sensitive issues, talking about cultural appropriation in hair trends she told Galore: ‘To not be okay with it would be like saying black people shouldn’t get perms. This goes back to my same message about labels… having braids doesn’t make you black and having straight hair doesn’t make you white.’
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With her show, Just Keke, she made TV history as the youngest talk show host ever.
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Keke doesn’t believe in labels, she told Cosmopolitan: ‘I'm very happy to be part of a generation where you don't have to say that you're gay, it's just like, "I'm dating a dude," or, "I'm dating a girl," and I love it. I think it's a great time.’
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Her resume includes credits in 90210, Masters of Sex, CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, Grease: Live, Grey’s Anatomy, Ice Age: Continental Drift, ER and Law & Order.
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She has said that growing up in the spotlight she developed three different personalities. She told Interview Magazine: ‘Dika, Lika, and Mika. Dika was very sleepy—the lethargic version of me when I was tired. Dika was the one who was kind of out of it. Mika was the over-exaggerated version of Keke. She was too much. No one wanted to deal with her. And then I forget what Lika was, but it was an ongoing joke with my team about the different moods of Keke.’
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Six months ago Keke’s stylist Michael Benyamin (AKA Maikeeb) was still interning at Nylon. Now he’s fashioned Keke into one of today’s best-dressed stars.
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Keke was the first Africa-American to play Cinderella on Broadway.
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The actress isn’t afraid to call people out on their shit. After being featured in Trey Songz music video without consent, she posted a lengthy takedown on Instagram: ‘This is preposterous. How am I in this video Trey?...Just cause you give someone food and alcohol and throw in a little sexual intimidation doesn't mean they will buckle. Yet, you still disrespected me as a young women, whom you've known since she was TWELVE. YOU STILL, defied my wishes and in turn showed your lack of respect for a brand that took me fourteen years to build and put me in the video against my wishes. Come on bruh, I clearly said no and you said okay, yet I was being secretly filmed when you told me "let me just show you the idea"?? Wow…’
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.