'One Life to Live' Alum Tika Sumpter Welcomes Baby Girl

Tika Sumpter

Daytime alum Tika Sumpter tweeted in reference to some life-changing news on Monday.

The former One Life to Live (Layla Williamson) fan fave gave birth on October 8 to a baby girl, Ella Loren, according to EW.com.

In announcing her exciting news, Sumpter also acknowledged the awesome responsibility of raising a child.

"Dear Mom's, dad's and caretakers, I'm slow clapping for each and every one of you. It ain't no joke," she wrote.

Sumpter originated the role of Laya on the now-defunct ABC soap in 2005 and continued playing it until 2010. She arrived in town to join her sister, Evangeline Williamson, Llanview’s Assistant District Attorney. Her character was involved in several romances, most notably with Cristian Vega. She also found herself in the middle of several front-burner storylines, including the decision to take her comatose sister off life-support.

Sumpter garnered an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for her work as Layla Williamson in 2008.

Sumpter was born in New York City. She began modeling a year before her big break as Layla on OLTL. Since then she has racked up numerous film and television credits, including that of Candace Young in the OWN's The Haves and the Have Nots. She also starred in and produced the film Southside With You.

Akbi Khan has been a soap mega-fan for 31 years. She has been writing about them and working to save the soap genre for several years. Last May she got her Master’s in rhetoric and composition, for which she completed a thesis on the Save Our Soaps (SOS) movement and created her own SOS group, thistimeitsforever.org. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, activism for various progressive causes, traveling down her spiritual path, rollerskating, going dancing, anything having to do with language or words, and laughing heartily and often, and more. You may reach her at [email protected].