Background and career
Eve Jihan Cooper (née Jeffers; born November 10, 1978) is an American rapper, singer, and actress. Her debut studio album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady (1999), peaked atop the Billboard 200 (making her the third female rapper to do so), received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and spawned the singles "What Ya Want" (featuring Nokio), "Love Is Blind", and "Gotta Man". That same year, she guest appeared on the Roots' single "You Got Me", as well as Missy Elliott's single "Hot Boyz", both of which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (the latter reaching number 5). Eve's second and third studio albums, Scorpion (2001) and Eve-Olution (2002), were both met with continued commercial success. Their respective lead singles, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" (featuring Gwen Stefani) and "Gangsta Lovin'" (featuring Alicia Keys), both peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100; the former won her the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
Her 2007 standalone single, "Tambourine" (featuring Swizz Beatz), also entered the Billboard Hot 100's top 40. After parting ways with Interscope Records, Eve released her fourth studio album, Lip Lock (2013), as her first independent project. As an actress, she starred as Terri Jones in the comedy drama films Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Barbershop: The Next Cut, and played the lead role of Shelley Williams on the UPN television sitcom Eve. Eve also had supporting roles in the drama film The Woodsman (2004), the comedy film The Cookout (2004) and the horror film Animal (2014). From 2017 to 2020, she co-hosted the CBS Daytime talk show The Talk, where she was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.
Eve Jihan Jeffers was born on November 10, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Julie Wilch, a publishing company supervisor and Jerry Jeffers, a chemical plant supervisor. Eve lived in West Philadelphia until age 13 when her family moved to the neighborhood of Germantown. She graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia. At the age of 18, she worked as a stripper until rapper Mase convinced her to quit. In 1999, Eve discussed stripping in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying "that was a hustle, too; there's a song about it on my album, 'Heaven Only Knows.' But I don't regret it – I was eighteen and confused, going through personal problems. I did it for about a month, and I was glad I did it. It helped me find Eve, helped me get serious. It was depressing – a lot of those girls have three or four kids. I'd sit there and be like, 'Eve, you don't belong here, this is not your world.'" Eve's first musical interest was singing. She sang in many choirs and even formed an all-female singing group (Dope Girl Posse or EDGP) with a manager.
This group covered songs from En Vogue and Color Me Badd. The group's manager suggested that they should start rapping, and Eve stuck with it. After the group split up, Eve began working on a solo career under the name "Eve of Destruction".
How Eve makes money
As an actress, she starred as Terri Jones in the comedy drama films Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Barbershop: The Next Cut, and played the lead role of Shelley Williams on the UPN television sitcom Eve. Eve Jihan Jeffers was born on November 10, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Julie Wilch, a publishing company supervisor and Jerry Jeffers, a chemical plant supervisor.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth, in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
