Lawson began acting at the age of nine, having appeared in
commercials for
Barbie and
Revlon. In 1993, she was cast in the television series
Saved by the Bell: The New Class as series regular Megan Jones. She appeared in multiple episodes of
The WB sitcoms
Sister, Sister as Rhonda Coley and
The Steve Harvey Show as Rosalind. In 1996, she co-starred in the
UPN sitcom
Goode Behavior—which lasted for just one season—as Bianca Goode, the teenage daughter of the titular family. In 1997, she appeared in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer as vampire slayer
Kendra Young. In 1999, she appeared in The WB's ''
Dawson's Creek'' as rival character Nikki Green. In 2009, Lawson was cast as Shawna in
The Secret Life of the American Teenager. That same year, she was cast in the CW television series
The Vampire Diaries, as witch Emily Bennett. In December 2009, she was cast as Maya St. Germain in the
ABC Family series
Pretty Little Liars, based on the
book series by
Sara Shepard. She appeared in that show from June 2010 through August 2012. Since 2012, she has had a recurring role as Ms. Morell in the
MTV television series
Teen Wolf, based on the
original film from 1985. In 2014, Lawson had a recurring role as Eva in
Witches of East End. In 2015, she was cast as series regular Talia Freeman in season three of
Rogue. Lawson has made appearances in two different television miniseries. In 1998, she appeared in
The Temptations as
Diana Ross (whom Lawson is related to through Ross's daughter
Rhonda Ross Kendrick); and in 2001, she was cast as Anna Bella Monroe in
Anne Rice's
The Feast of All Saints. Some of Lawson's film credits to date include
Primary Colors (1998),
Save the Last Dance (2001),
Bones (2001) and ''
Breakin' All the Rules (2004). Aside from film and television, Lawson provided her voice to the 2011 video game Star Wars: The Old Republic. In 2016, Lawson was cast in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Queen Sugar'', created by
Ava DuVernay. ==Filmography==