Hollywood's New Sensation: Lyric Ross

Lyric Ross is passionate about acting. She started showing signs of being a natural actor as early as two years old and would audition with talent agents when she was around five years old. At nine, she was featured in a Hillary Clinton commercial called "Madam President."

While the budding actor has a catalog of roles she has played in the past, she is best known for playing Deja Pearson on This Is Us. For the role, she had been recruited to play a foster kid for a few episodes in season two. Speaking to HuffPost, Ross noted, "I didn't really know how much more they could do with this character." However, she would stick around evolving into a main character until the final season – season six.

The Illinois native has garnered plaudits for her dedication to her craft. The undoubtedly talented actor still yearns to learn more and improve, efforts that have seen her get better with every on-screen performance she makes.

Case in point, she has famously confessed that she cannot master tears on cue. However, you wouldn't notice that weakness in her acting skills in Deja's episode This Is Us in Season 2, Episode 17.

For her memorable performances, she has been nominated for countless awards throughout her acting career. She was also part of the cast of This Is Us, which won the Screen Actors Guild Award in the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category in 2018.

She appeared as Lily in one episode of Sirens.

Her appearance on Lily was followed by another appearance on Chicago Fire as an unnamed girl.

She played the role of Andrea in an Untitled Lena Waithe movie project.

In 2017, she played the role of Ruby in Rogers Park, a drama film revolving around Grace and Zeke (a married couple) trying to navigate the personal and professional challenges they face every day.

Recurring role in Season 2 and a main character in Seasons 3 to 6

By all accounts, Ross got her breakout role as Deja Pearson in This Is Us, a popular drama series on NBC. Deja was introduced to the audience as a foster child. Deja's biological mother had her as a 16-year-old teen who struggled to raise her. After being hospitalized, Child Protective Services decide to take Deja into the foster care system. She moved around to different homes, with none ideal. She later reunited with her mother, but only for a short while.

Her mother is arrested and charged with possession of an unlicensed gun, after which Deja is placed with Beth and Randall. Defiant at first, she later feels comfortable in Pearson's household, forming a strong bond with the family, especially Randall.

Her portrayal of Deja was well-received by fans and critics alike. Many of her audience members praised her for bringing to life a character with emotional complexity and character depth while bringing authenticity to the role.

In 2018, Ross made an appearance in Rhyan LaMarr's drama film as Tameka. The film plot was about a young black teenager who was accused of killing his classmate. His novice attorney father fights in court to prove his son's innocence.

She debuted in voice acting as Katherine "Kat" Koniqua Elliot in Wendell & Wild, an adult, stop-motion-animated film.