Sherri Saum

Sherri Saum is an American actress best known for her compelling roles in television drama series. She gained significant recognition for her portrayal of Lena Adams Foster on the long-running Freeform series The Fosters and its spinoff Good Trouble. Saum has also had notable roles in soap operas such as Sunset Beach and One Life to Live, establishing a versatile career across multiple genres.

Early life and education

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Saum was raised in a military family, which led to her living in various locations including Germany during her youth. She developed an interest in the performing arts early on, participating in school theater productions. After completing high school, she pursued higher education at New York University, where she studied at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Her training at NYU provided a strong foundation in acting, preparing her for a professional career in New York City.

Career

Saum began her professional acting career in the late 1990s, quickly landing a role on the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach, playing the character Vanessa Hart. Following the conclusion of that series, she joined the cast of the iconic ABC daytime drama One Life to Live, where she portrayed Keri Reynolds. Her work in daytime television established her as a familiar face and led to guest-starring roles on prime-time series such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and CSI: Miami. A major career breakthrough came in 2013 when she was cast as Lena Adams Foster on the Freeform family drama The Fosters, a role she played for five seasons and later continued in the spinoff series Good Trouble. Her performance, alongside co-star Teri Polo, was widely praised for its nuanced depiction of a same-sex couple raising a blended family. Beyond television, Saum has appeared in films including The Other Sister and the independent feature The Violent Kind.

Personal life

In 2007, Saum married actor Kamar de los Reyes, known for his role on the soap opera One Life to Live. The couple had twin sons, born in 2013. Saum was deeply involved in various charitable endeavors, often supporting organizations related to LGBT youth and foster care advocacy, causes closely aligned with her work on The Fosters. Her husband, Kamar de los Reyes, died in December 2023 after a private battle with cancer.

Filmography

A selection of her notable screen credits includes the television series Sunset Beach (1997–1999), One Life to Live (2001–2002), The Fosters (2013–2018), and Good Trouble (2019–present). Her film appearances include The Other Sister (1999), The Violent Kind (2010), and the television movie The Christmas Contract (2018). She has also made guest appearances on series such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Miami, and In Treatment.

Awards and nominations

For her role on The Fosters, Saum received several award nominations. She was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2015. She and her on-screen wife, Teri Polo, were jointly nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series in multiple years, recognizing the show's positive impact. Her work has also been acknowledged by organizations like the Imagen Awards, which honor positive portrayals of Latinos in media.

Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Dayton, Ohio Category:New York University alumni Category:1974 births Category:Living people