All About Tika Sumpter’s Daughter (and Sonic Superfan!) Ella-Loren

Motherhood changed Tika Sumpter’s life.

The Southside with You star welcomed her daughter, Ella-Loren, 8, with her now-husband, Nicholas James, in 2016.

“I spent my whole 20s and 30s trying not to get pregnant because I was so focused on me and my career. Motherhood was in the back of my head as something far off,” she told SELF in May 2022. However, when Sumpter met James, she said she knew that he would be the father of her future kids.

Sumpter’s daughter is the “best thing that’s happened” to her, she wrote in an October 2018 Instagram post. She reiterated that sentiment in a different post a few months later, writing, “Ella has changed my universe. She is my sunshine and my whole heart.”

From how she’s learning about her identity to how she’s inspired her mother, here’s everything to know about Tika Sumpter’s daughter Ella-Loren.

Getting pregnant with Ella was a “happy accident”

Sumpter told SELF in 2022 that she hadn’t originally planned to get pregnant, but when she and James found out that they were expecting, they called it “kind of a happy accident.”

“We had only been together for about a year,” The Haves and the Have Nots star said. “So we were still getting to know each other, but we said, ‘We’re doing this.’ My journey to motherhood has been, ‘It’ll happen when it happens,’ and it did just happen.”

Sumpter told Fit Pregnancy and Baby in October 2016, ahead of her daughter’s birth, that the couple found out they were having a baby on Valentine’s Day during a surprise trip to San Diego.

“I never want McDonald’s, but I was like, ‘I need a Big Mac, fries and a Coke now,’ ” she recalled. “They were still only serving breakfast, so I insisted we wait there until they started serving lunch.

“Afterward, I immediately fell asleep,” she continued. “When I woke up, my boyfriend was like, ‘Ha-ha! Are you pregnant?‘ I said, ‘Maybe. Go get a test!’ He brought back a generic-brand test, and right away it said positive. I could not comprehend it. So I said, ‘Go get a name-brand test!’ He did, and that one said yes too.”

She added that she kept the positive pregnancy test, even showing it to her mother when she didn’t believe her.

She was born in October 2016

Sumpter and James welcomed their daughter on Oct. 8, 2016, PEOPLE confirmed. Before her birth was public, the actress had hinted at her baby girl’s arrival, writing on X, “Dear Moms, dads and caretakers, I’m slow clapping for each and every one of you. It ain’t no joke.”

The actress kept her pregnancy a secret for months before revealing that she was expecting in August 2016. “She’s my first child, and I wanted to experience every moment of this pregnancy for myself and enjoy it without everybody else being in it with me,” she explained to Fit Pregnancy and Baby.

“I didn’t want to hear, ‘Who’s the dad? Are you with the dad?’ Social media can be harsh, and I’m a mama bear, protective of my family,” she shared. “So that’s why I waited to tell people, including some friends.”

Sumpter later revealed that she had a difficult delivery, sharing in a May 2018 Instagram post that the experience was “complicated.”

“Carrying you was magical, but delivering you was complicated,” she wrote of her daughter. “I had pre-eclampsia and was told I could seizure or bleed out. I cry thinking about it. You are my miracle. You are my magic.”

She played a big role at her parents’ wedding

Nearly six years after she was born, Sumpter and James tied the knot in a May 2022 wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Ella, who was 5 at the time, was present for her mom and dad’s big day, joined by two of her friends.

“She came up to me and said, ‘Mom, I have my own table!’ And I said, ‘I know! I did that for you!’ She loved it all,” Sumpter told Brides in 2022. According to the outlet, Ella, who wore a dress from Itty Bitty Toes, served as both the flower girl and ring bearer.

Having Ella there for the ceremony was meaningful to Sumpter, who also had her daughter by her side during her vow exchange.

“[Actor] Michael Ealy said to me after, ‘Your daughter got to see what love looks like through you guys coming together,’ ” Sumpter recalled. “It was beautiful to have my daughter there and knowing she’ll remember that forever.”

Sumpter is raising her to understand her identity

Though Ella is still young, Sumpter has stressed the importance of her understanding her heritage as the daughter of a Black woman and a White man.

“We’re already talking to Ella about race,” Sumpter told PEOPLE in August 2024. “Nick actually went to the library the other day and got a bunch of books on Pharaoh and Africa, and then one on civil rights. He’s reading this civil rights book out loud and he’s like, ‘This is infuriating!’ And Ella can’t even imagine that time. She’s like, ‘How could people do such a thing?’ ”

She added, “You don’t want to scare her, but you want to inform her in a way that is age-appropriate.”

Since then, Sumpter said, Ella has reflected on her parents’ love, saying that she was grateful her parents were born at a time when interracial marriage was legal so they could be together. The comment nearly moved Sumpter to tears, as she fawned over how “aware” her young daughter was.

As for when Ella has questions about her own race, Sumpter said she emphasizes that she is both races.

“I’m just like, ‘You are both,’ ” she said. “I’m super grateful that she feels like she’s a part of both of us. She doesn’t have to choose at all.”

Sumpter is a strict but open parent

In August 2024, Sumpter reflected on her parenting philosophy, telling PEOPLE that while she does have rules with her daughter, she is also lenient.

With candy, “I’m like, let her have it,” she said. “If it’s not hurting her and we don’t feed her like that all the time, let her enjoy it, who cares?”

One thing she said that is important for her to stress is being a good listener to Ella, so she always knows she has someone to talk to.

“The one thing I always try to do as a parent is actively listen to her when she has something to say,” Sumpter said. “Talking over her sometimes feels like what I have to say is way more important.”

While Sumpter values an open line of communication with her daughter, she does have a clear idea of how she wants Ella to talk to her.

“There’s no talking back, like when she’s being the smart aleck,” the actress said. “I’m like ‘Girl, no. Who are you talking to?’ She’s also funny and will make me laugh and I have to stop myself. But yea, that’s the one thing I don’t put up with.”

Serena Williams has sent her a gift

Ella may only be 8 years old, but she already has friends in high places. In December 2022, Sumpter shared that her daughter received a special Christmas gift from Serena Williams.

Ahead of the holiday, Sumpter posted a video of her daughter unwrapping a Qai Qai doll from the tennis star. “Thank you @serenawilliams for sending an early Christmas surprise!” she captioned the post, adding, “Ella loves it!”

She is a Disney fan

Ella appears to have a penchant for Disney characters. Over the years, Sumpter has shared pictures of her little girl dressed up as Moana, Tinkerbell and Elsa from Frozen.

On Ella’s 2nd birthday, the actress wrote on Instagram, “Moana, I don’t know anyone who loves you more than my Ella.”

Ella is also a big Sonic fan — which works out for Sumpter, who stars as the character’s mom, Maddie Wachowski, in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

“She knows more about Sonic than I do and everybody else does,” the actress told PEOPLE at the movie’s December 2024 premiere. “She told me she needs to educate me on more of the characters. She plays all of the video games, and she’s watched the first one since she was 4. Now she’s 8, and she’s obsessed.”