Teyana Taylor's Real Name: Teyana Me Shay Jacqueline Taylor

Quick answer: Teyana Taylor's real name is Teyana Me Shay Jacqueline Taylor. She was born on December 10, 1990, in Harlem, New York City.

Real name and early life

Teyana Taylor performs under her own name. Reference listings give her full name as Teyana Me Shay Jacqueline Taylor. Major press coverage, including CBS New York and The Independent, describes her as a Harlem native, born on December 10, 1990, and raised by her mother, Nikki, who also manages her career.

The Independent reports that she was singing in local competitions by age nine. At 15 she was recruited to teach Beyoncé a viral Harlem dance, the "Chicken Noodle Soup," for the video "Ring the Alarm," and she signed with Pharrell Williams's Star Trak label around the same time.

Quick facts

• Real name: Teyana Me Shay Jacqueline Taylor
• Known as: Teyana Taylor
• Born: December 10, 1990, in Harlem, New York City
• Known for: Actor
• Notable work: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, VII, K.T.S.E., The Album
• Sources checked: Golden Globes, CBS New York, The Independent

Career highlights

Her debut single "Google Me" came out when she was 17. She appeared on two songs on Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) and later signed with his G.O.O.D. Music. Her albums include VII (2014), K.T.S.E. (2018), The Album (2020), and Escape Room (2025), which the Golden Globes biography notes earned a Grammy nomination for best R&B album.

As an actor she won a breakthrough award for A Thousand and One (2023). Her role as Perfidia Beverly Hills in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another (2025) won the 2026 Golden Globe for best supporting actress. Other credits include Coming 2 America, Ryan Murphy's All's Fair, Netflix's Straw, and The Rip.

Name notes

She has never used a stage name. Her middle names, Me Shay Jacqueline, appear in reference listings but rarely in press coverage. Fan sites often copy names from one another, so we checked this page against Golden Globes and CBS New York. Where sources disagree, we say so rather than guess. We also leave out middle names, nicknames, and origin stories that we couldn't confirm in a reliable source. A popular claim isn't enough to earn a place on this page if no encyclopedia, official record, or major news outlet backs it up.