Numa Perrier

Numa Perrier is a Haitian-American actress, artist, director, writer, and producer. She is a co-founder of Black&Sexy TV and started her production company titled, "House of Numa". Her debut feature film, Jezebel, premiered at SXSW in 2019. Her sophomore film, the Netflix romantic comedy The Perfect Find premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival where it received the Audience Award for Narrative Film.

Early life Perrier was born in Haiti and was adopted and raised in Washington state in a family of eight children. In Washington, Perrier grew up on a farm in Cathlamet, Wahkiakum County. The town had a population of around 500 people. Although Perrier left Washington at the age of 10, and has lived in many other places since Perrier notes Washington as one of the more memorable places she has lived. She got to know her biological mother when she was 17. Perrier moved to Las Vegas in late adolescence and did online "peep show" work as a cam girl to make money. Her savings allowed her to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and visual art.

Career Perrier co-founded Black&Sexy TV, a creative collective and streaming service for Black millennial audiences, with former partners Dennis Dortch, Brian Ali Harding, and Jeanine Daniels in 2010. Their first collaboration was a film called A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy, which premiered at Sundance and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures. Beginning in 2011, they used YouTube to post their content. Notable shows include The Couple, The Number, Hello Cupid and RoomieLoverFriends. The Los Angeles Times referred to Perrier as "a very fine naturalistic actor" and gave further praise to her filmmaking, noting her "striking handling and welcome thoughtfulness of style." Array Releasing acquired the film in 2019 with a limited theatrical run and it debuted on Netflix on January 16, 2020. Perrier was awarded Best Director and Best Feature Film for Jezebel at the 2019 American Black Film Festival. Perrier played a recurring guest star role on Showtime's SMILF prior to its cancellation.

Perrier directed a live magic show, The Legend of Black Herman, as a part of Derek Fodjour's art installation, Magic, Mystery, and Legerdemain, which ran from March 29 to May 7, 2022, at the David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles. She has also directed television episodes for programs including OWN's Queen Sugar, Showtime's comedy-drama series Cinema Toast, Hulu's legal drama Reasonable Doubt, and Hulu's comedy series Unprisoned. Perrier also directed the season 3 finale for the ABC sitcom Young Rock.

Perrier's first studio film, The Perfect Find, starring and co-produced by Gabrielle Union premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival where it received the Audience Award. Based on the book by Tia Williams and adapted by Leigh Davenport, the film follows a woman in her forties starting a new career only to fall for a much younger man who is also her boss's son. The film released worldwide on Netflix on June 23, 2023, and garnered Perrier an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie or Special.

Also in 2023, she directed two episodes of the Hulu comedy series Unprisoned starring Kerry Washington, for which she received the Astra TV Award for Best Directing in a Streaming Comedy Series as well as an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series. In June, 2022, it was announced Perrier would produce and direct The War and Treaty, from a script by Will McCormack and Craig Borten, based on the life of the Nashville husband and wife vocal duo.

Personal life

Perrier married Gabrey Milner, son of Broadway playwright Ron Milner, in October 2020.

Filmography

Film

As actress

Television

As actress

As director

Awards and nominations