Tyla Abercrumbie
Tyla Abercrumbie is an American actress, director and playwright. She is best known for playing Nina Williams in the drama series The Chi and Officer Mary Jo Sullivan in the crime series NCIS: Origins.
Early life
Abercrumbie was born in Austin, Chicago. She described growing in Austin as joyful despite the city lacking resources and residents struggled. Her older sister encouraged her to express herself through the arts such as writing poetry, encouraging her to read books and then write about them or act them out. She holds a B.A. from Columbia College Chicago.Career
Early in her career Abercrumbie took roles in Chicago’s local theater circuit before working in theater and television nationally. Her first big role came playing Nina Johnson in the drama series The Chi. She made guest appearances in the police drama series Detroit 1-8-7 and the crime drama series The Chicago Code. She also had a main role in the crime series NCIS: Origins playing Officer Mary Jo Sullivan.Abercrumbie has participated in theatre productions throughout her career as not only an actress but also a director and playwright. She joined the TimeLine Theatre Playwrights Collective, which nutured her when writing and developing her play Relentless, which debuted at the Goodman Theater in 2022. It was originally planned to open in 2020 but was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Set in 1919, it is inspired by people she knew in her Austin community. In 2021, she received a $25,000 grant from Chicago's Raven Theatre to produce a new work.
Asylum is a one woman show written by and starring Abercrombie early in her career which portrays the conflicting pressures that a modern woman experiences.