Sarah Culberson

Princess Sarah Jane Culberson, Lady of Bumpe (born Esther Elizabeth Kposowa) is an American actress, public speaker, educator, and writer. By birth she is a Mende princess of the Bumpe–Gao Chiefdom in Sierra Leone.

She is the co-founder of Sierra Leone Rising, a non-profit organization that raises funds to improve education, economic opportunities, and sustainable living for people in Sierra Leone. In 2009, she co-authored her memoir, titled A Princess Found: An American Family, an African Chiefdom, and the Daughter Who Connected Them All. The book is being considered by Disney for development as a film directed by Stephanie Allain with Culberson as executive producer.

Personal life Culberson was born Esther Elizabeth Kposowa in Morgantown, West Virginia, to an American mother and a Sierra Leonean father. She was placed into foster care as an infant and was later adopted by Jim and Judy Culberson, a couple in West Virginia. Her adoptive father was a professor of neuroanatomy at West Virginia University. Her adoptive mother was a special education instructor at an elementary school. She grew up not knowing anything about her birth parents. Culberson was raised in the United Methodist faith. Culberson played basketball, served as student body president, and was the homecoming queen at University High School. She later obtained a masters of fine arts degree from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Her paternal grandfather, Francis Kposowa, had been the Paramount Chief of Bumpe in Sierra Leone. As a Mahaloi, or granddaughter of the Paramount Chief, she is accorded the status of princess by the Mende people. She reconnected with her father after writing him a letter. Her father revealed that he had been a visiting college student when she was conceived, and he and her mother agreed they were too young and not financially suitable to care for a child at that time.

Career In 2001, Culberson moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She has made appearances on the television shows Strong Medicine, In Case of Emergency, All of Us, Boston Legal, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

In 2006, Culberson co-founded Sierra Leone Rising, formerly known as Kposowa Foundation, a non-profit foundation that supports education, rebuilding of schools, and improving quality of life in the Bumpe Chiefdom of Sierra Leone after the civil war.

She worked as director of service learning at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles.

In 2019, Disney reached an agreement with Homegrown Pictures to develop Culberson's memoir and story into a film. An all-Black female team of scriptwriters and directors is expected to produce the film, with Stephanie Allain as producer, April Quioh as scriptwriter, and Culberson as executive producer and consultant.

In 2022, Culberson was awarded the Impact Award at Bounce TV's 30th Trumpet Awards. In 2023, she served on a panel with Princess Keisha Omilana to talk about diversity and inclusion, racial representation, African royalty, and the role of monarchy in the modern day.

Filmography Film

Television