Bre-Z Does It

She acts. She raps. And she wields a mean pair of clippers. How All American’s stereotype-busting star came to be.

- By Oliver Jones

No one was more relieved when the third season of All American was safely underway than Bre-Z, the actor, rapper, and former barber who stars as Tamia “Coop” Cooper on The CW hit. As the loyal, if sometimes hotheaded, best friend and protector of the show’s titular hero, Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), Coop spent most of last season in the crosshairs of a gang lord.

The situation made every table read a distinctly harrowing experience. “It was a little chilling to have to be in her skin every day,” explains Bre-Z, on the phone from her home in Los Angeles. “Every time I opened a script, it was a little like, ‘Oh my God, y’all better not! I don’t wanna act like I got shot, and I don’t wanna act dead. I don’t want any of that!’”

A representational breakthrough,