Lori Harvey likes to consult with herself within the third individual. “She is shifting,” she says when working by her every day schedule, which incorporates enterprise conferences for 2 firms, interviews, appearing lessons, and getting ready for trend month in London, Paris, and Milan. “She will get sizzling,” she says when explaining why she retains a Louis Vuitton fan in her bag always.
It is smart why Harvey, the daughter of comic Steve Harvey and trend entrepreneur Marjorie Harvey, would consider herself as one other individual. She’s achieved a lot within the 27 years of her life that it’s nearly unfathomable. At 14, she was on the observe to turn out to be an expert equestrian rider. When a again damage derailed her equestrian profession at 18, she pivoted to modeling and made her official runway debut in 2017 for Dolce & Gabbana. Her profession continued with advertisements for manufacturers like Michael Kors, Valentino, and Burberry and spreads for magazines like Vogue, W, and Harper’s Bazaar earlier than the launch of her first firm, SKN by LH, in 2021. Two years later, Harvey began her second enterprise, a swimwear model named Yevrah (her final title spelled backward), impressed by the envious Euro summer time holidays she’s turn out to be synonymous with on her Instagram.
Now, at 27, Harvey simply made her first main on-screen debut in Peacock’s new critically acclaimed drama, Struggle Evening: The Million Greenback Heist, based mostly on an armed theft of greater than $1 million of stolen valuables at a celebration in Atlanta the evening of Muhammad Ali’s historic comeback battle in 1970. Regardless of what haters might imagine, Harvey stays booked and busy. “I really feel like the most important false impression about me is that I don’t work,” she says. “However no, she’s a working gal. She works very arduous.”
I’ve positively gotten a leg up and had doorways been open for me due to my dad, however I needed to put the work in after I bought there.
This false impression is why it was vital for Harvey to audition like anybody else for her function in Struggle Evening. Although Harvey went to theater camp as a child and had a one-line function within the sitcom The Sport as an adolescent, it wasn’t till the beginning of 2024, when she made it her New Yr’s decision to do one thing that pushed her exterior of her consolation zone, that she formally made the soar to pursue appearing professionally. “There was one thing holding me again. I’m a perfectionist, so I by no means need to do something until I do know it’s going to be wonderful out of the gate,” she says. “However going into the brand new 12 months, I used to be in an area the place I used to be like, ‘You already know what? I’m gonna do every little thing that makes me uncomfortable.’ Since you don’t develop while you’re comfy. You develop while you’re uncomfortable.”
The timing labored out. Round that very same time, her supervisor heard Peacock was casting for Struggle Evening, a real crime sequence that includes a who’s who of Hollywood together with Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard. “When you hear that forged, it’s a no brainer,” Harvey says. Her workforce managed to get her an audition however Harvey knew that she couldn’t simply coast on her fame to get her the half—nor did she need to. “I prefer to work for and earn every little thing I’ve. I don’t prefer to have something handed to me,” she says.
Everyone ought to really feel like they’re that woman
Even earlier than Struggle Evening got here round, Harvey had already been working with an appearing coach because the begin of the 12 months. When she bought the audition, she upped her hours along with her coach considerably earlier than she went in to learn for Lola Folana, an actual singer and Broadway actress who was dubbed one in all Black Hollywood’s it ladies within the ‘70s. She nailed it. “I used to be strolling round my kitchen when my supervisor referred to as me and was like, ‘Guess what? You bought it,’” Harvey remembers. “It took a second for it to register as a result of I used to be like, ‘Wait, is that this actually taking place? Is that this actual?’”
Whereas Harvey by no means met the true Folana, who’s now 82 and has principally stayed out of the highlight since her retirement, she acknowledges the impression Folana had on future generations of actors like her. “I cherished how assured she was. She was actually a badass and was simply that woman throughout that period. I hope I did her justice,” Harvey says. Folana’s confidence can also be what Harvey noticed probably the most about her in herself. “As I’m getting older and extra assured in who I’m, I positively relate to her on that stage,” she says. “I feel I’m that woman. I feel everyone ought to really feel like they’re that woman.”
Together with being her first function, Struggle Evening additionally holds a particular place in Harvey’s coronary heart for one more motive. The sequence is about in Atlanta and tells the story of how town, as soon as a railroad city, turned the “Black mecca” of the US. Harvey was born in Memphis however grew up in Atlanta, the place she spent most of her childhood because the youngest of seven kids. Her mother and father nonetheless dwell there, so when she confirmed up at her household’s home days earlier than manufacturing began on Struggle Evening, her dad, Steve Harvey, was stunned to be taught she had begun appearing—not to mention booked her first TV present.
“It actually wasn’t even intentional not telling him. We’re simply so busy. We’re at all times in several time zones. I don’t even assume I do know the place he’s proper now. He could possibly be in Africa,” Harvey jokes. “After I bought dwelling, he was like, ‘What are you right here for?’ I used to be like, ‘Oh, I’m filming.’ He’s like, ‘Filming what?’ It didn’t register to him, whilst I used to be saying it. After all, as soon as I advised him the forged, he was like, ‘It is a massive deal. You bought to focus. You bought to lock in. I’m so happy with you, nevertheless it’s work time now.’ I used to be like, ‘Oh, I do know I’ve been working. Don’t fear.’”
However simply because Harvey grew up round Hollywood doesn’t imply she didn’t have anxiousness the primary time she stepped onto the set of Struggle Evening. In any case, one in all her first scenes was with the Samuel L. Jackson, a household pal who she affectionately knew as Uncle Sam, however wanted to view because the “Black Godfather” of New York’s felony underworld. “Being with him in a piece setting was very nerve-wracking, clearly, as a result of he’s a legend. I simply needed to do a very good job and impress him,” Harvey says. “He can be tremendous encouraging. He can be like, ‘That was it! That was the one! Now you’re getting comfy. You’re feeling it now.’ That helped me chill out.”
With the household she grew up in, Harvey is conscious of the impact her final title had on the place she is in her profession. However that doesn’t negate the work that she put in to remain there. “There are positively benefits to it. Anyone who says there aren’t is both delusional or very tone deaf. I’ve positively had benefits. I’m not blind to that,” she says. “I’m extraordinarily grateful and appreciative for all the benefits I’ve had. However simply because you’ve it simpler to get within the door, doesn’t imply that it is possible for you to to remain within the door simply due to who your mother and father are. It’s a must to really put the time and put the work in and be good at no matter it’s you’re doing. I’ve positively gotten a leg up and had doorways been open for me due to my dad, however I needed to put the work in after I bought there.”
Harvey can also be happy with her father. She by no means thought of dropping his final title to distance herself from him in Hollywood, and he or she even named Yevrah, her swimwear model, after their shared final title backward. Her older brother, Jason Harvey, used the title first for a now-defunct footwear firm earlier than she requested for his permission to maintain the legacy going with Yevrah.
Harvey launched Yevrah with Revolve in 2023. The model was one in all Revolve’s most talked-about swimwear partnerships of the 12 months and has been worn by celebrities like Normani, Winnie Harlow, and Justine Skye. Two years later, over Labor Day weekend 2024, Harvey dropped her second line for Yevrah. This time round, although, Harvey totally operated the model on her personal by way of Yevrah’s new web site, yevrahswim.com.
You’re anticipated to be very, very tall and really, very skinny. I positively was self aware about it after I first began, as a result of I’m not a conventional mannequin.
“Once we initially launched, I needed to launch it with Revolve. They’ve such an unimaginable infrastructure that they’ve constructed,” she says. “I needed Yevrah to be part of their model as to assist market it, get eyes on it, and be of their orbit of their clientele house. As soon as we did that, and it was very, very profitable, I knew I needed to launch my very own web site. It was actually all about timing.”
Although Yevrah has a brand new dwelling and recent designs, it’s nonetheless dedicated to the identical values Harvey had when she first got here up with the concept for the corporate years in the past. A type of values was measurement inclusivity—Yevrah’s sizes vary from XS to XXL—one thing vital to Harvey after spending years as a mannequin and struggling to suit into pattern sizes. “I completely felt strain to be a sure measurement, particularly after I first began,” she says. “While you’re backstage they usually’re becoming you, every little thing is pattern measurement. You’re anticipated to be very, very tall and really, very skinny. I’ll be trustworthy, I positively was self-conscious about it after I first began, as a result of I’m not a conventional mannequin. When it got here to growing my manufacturers, I used to be like, ‘OK, inclusivity is primary on my record.’”
A swimwear model can also be a far cry from what Harvey thought she can be doing as a child. A self-described tomboy, her outfits rotated between two appears to be like: a saggy polo with saggy shorts or a saggy T-shirt with saggy pants. It wasn’t till her mother introduced her to her first trend week present at 12 years outdated that she was formally bit by the style bug that led to her profession now. “I cherished the vitality and the artistry behind it,” she says. “Then it was, ‘I need the clothes. I need the little heels. I need the little purses. I need every little thing.’”
Because the proprietor of two manufacturers—her skincare model, SKN by LH, offered out inside 48 hours of its launch—Harvey additionally dispels the stereotype that she was simply one other celeb who slapped her title on an organization. “I’m actually the model. Every little thing runs and flows by me,” she says. “I deal with all of the artistic, product improvement, design—you title it, every little thing from curating the Instagram right down to the content material of the shoots. Let’s clear that false impression up. She is closely concerned. She is the model.”
Even with two thriving firms and a burgeoning appearing profession, Harvey nonetheless has a protracted record of objectives she needs to attain. For starters, she’d prefer to launch her personal perfume and clothes line. She’d additionally prefer to star in a comedy. In any case, humor does run in her household. “I feel I’m fairly hilarious, so I might like to showcase that,” she says. What’s off the desk is stand-up. She additionally doesn’t see herself appearing alongside her father. “I don’t assume he’s appearing anymore. I feel he’s finished with that,” she says. “I might be shocked if he did one other appearing function as a result of he’s beginning to wind down. My dad is older. I advised him, ‘I offer you two extra years tops, and I feel you’re gonna retire.’ I feel I missed that window.”
Whereas Harvey teases that she has one other thrilling appearing mission within the works, she assures it’s not a task in her dad’s upcoming biopic, which she joked with E! Information on the Struggle Evening’s pink carpet in September that she needed to play herself in. “I used to be joking. When the biopic is about, I don’t assume I used to be born but. I feel it’s simply him when he was youthful. If I learn it accurately, I don’t assume any of us shall be in it. I feel it’ll simply be based mostly on him,” she says.
The week after her cowl shoot with StyleCaster, Harvey flew to New York Metropolis for the premiere of Struggle Evening and an look on the TODAY present. She was solely there for a sizzling second earlier than returning to her dwelling in Los Angeles for a fast break earlier than jetting off once more to Milan, London, and Paris for a month of trend weeks. In between then, she has conferences for her two firms and continues to be in common appearing classes to good her craft.
Together with her schedule continuously on the go, Harvey understands how her life can come throughout on the surface. However she assures you, she’s clocked in. “Individuals assume my life is only one lengthy trip,” she says. “I attempt to take it as a praise, as a result of I’m like, ‘OK, I suppose which means I make it look simple.’” When requested if that preconceived notion ever bothers her, she pauses earlier than casting the concept away. “For a second, however then I bought over it as a result of I used to be like, ‘Woman, you’re employed your butt off,’” she says. “Let the work converse for itself.”
Photographer: Michael Buckner
Artwork Director: Sasha Purdy
Manufacturing Supervisor: Roya Backlund
Stylist: Jill Jacobs Studio
Make-up: Leah Darcy with Infinity Inventive Company
Hair: Ray Christopher with The Wall Group
Pictures Assistant: River Callaway
Styling Assistants: Kassidy Taylor, Jazzy Carrillo
