Wanda Maria Howell is an American actress and singer. Howell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and graduated Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Howell worked as jazz singer and made her film debut in The Color Purple. She lived in Okinawa, Japan, from 1995-2001. She made guest appearances on Drop Dead Diva, Army Wives, The Game, Necessary Roughness, and The Vampire Diaries, and well co-starred in films include Daddy's Little Girls, Mississippi Damned, The Blind Side, and What to Expect When You're Expecting. In 2013, Howell played Seeder in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Also in 2012, she was cast in recurring role of NBC post-apocalyptic series Revolution as Grace Beaumont, and in 2013 plays Ida Hayes in Lifetime comedy-drama Devious Maids.