Lori Harvey loves to refer to herself in the third person. “She is moving,” she says when running through her daily schedule, which includes business meetings for two companies, interviews, acting classes, and preparing for fashion month in London, Paris, and Milan. “She gets hot,” she says when explaining why she keeps a Louis Vuitton fan in her bag at all times. “She was very hungover,” she says when describing the reason she wore a last-minute pair of sunglasses on a red carpet in Cannes.
It makes sense why Harvey, the daughter of comedian Steve Harvey and fashion entrepreneur Melanie Harvey, would think of herself as another person. She’s accomplished so much in the 27 years of her life that it’s almost unfathomable. At 14, she was on the track to become a professional equestrian rider. When a back injury derailed her equestrian career at 18, she pivoted to modeling and made her official runway debut in 2017 for Dolce & Gabbana. Her career continued with ads for brands like Michael Kors, Valentino, and Burberry and spreads for magazines like Vogue, W, and Harper’s Bazaar before the launch of her first company, SKN by LH, in 2021. Two years later, Harvey started her second business, a swimwear brand named Yevrah (her last name spelled backward), inspired by the envious Euro summer vacations she’s become synonymous with on her Instagram.
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Ferragamo. Earrings: Erede. Rings: Jacquie Aiche, Shay, Erede.
Now, at 27, Harvey just made her first major on-screen debut in Peacock’s new critically acclaimed drama, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, based on an armed robbery of more than $1 million of stolen valuables at a party in Atlanta the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic comeback fight in 1970. Despite what haters may think, Harvey stays booked and busy. “I feel like the biggest misconception about me is that I don’t work,” she says. “But no, she’s a working gal. She works very hard.”
I have definitely gotten a leg up and had doors been open for me because of my dad, but I had to put the work in when I got there.
This misconception is why it was important for Harvey to audition like anyone else for her role in Fight Night. Though Harvey went to theater camp as a kid and had a one-line role in the sitcom The Game as a teenager, it wasn’t until the start of 2024, when she made it her New Year’s resolution to do something that pushed her outside of her comfort zone, that she officially made the jump to pursue acting professionally. “There was something holding me back. I’m a perfectionist, so I never want to do anything unless I know it’s going to be amazing out of the gate,” she says. “But going into the new year, I was in a space where I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna do everything that makes me uncomfortable.’ Because you don’t grow when you’re comfortable. You grow when you’re uncomfortable.”
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Ferragamo. Earrings: Erede. Rings: Jacquie Aiche, Shay, Erede.
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Ferragamo. Earrings: Erede. Rings: Jacquie Aiche, Shay, Erede.
The timing worked out. Around that same time, her manager heard Peacock was casting for Fight Night, a true crime series featuring a who’s who of Hollywood including Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard. “Once you hear that cast, it’s a no-brainer,” Harvey says.
Her team managed to get her an audition but Harvey knew that she couldn’t just coast on her fame to get her the part—nor did she want to. “I like to work for and earn everything I have. I don’t like to have anything handed to me,” she says. Even before Fight Night came around, Harvey had already been working with an acting coach since the start of the year. When she got the audition, she upped her hours with her coach significantly, perfecting everything from how she talked to how she stood to the way her face looked, before she sat in a room with dozens of other actresses waiting to read for the same part. Harvey bombed her first audition. “I was terrified, and I did absolutely horrible,” she says.
Everybody should feel like they’re that girl
But hope wasn’t lost. The casting directors were impressed enough by Harvey’s performance that they called her in for another role: Lola Folana, a real singer and Broadway actress who was dubbed one of Black Hollywood’s it girls in the ‘70s. To prepare, Harvey watched endless videos, interviews and movies Folana had been in to study her eccentricities before she stepped back into the audition room for a second shot. This time, she nailed it. “I was walking around my kitchen when my manager called me and was like, ‘Guess what? You got it,’” Harvey recalls. “It took a second for it to register because I was like, ‘Wait, is this really happening? Is this real?’”
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Scarf: Hermes. Swimsuit: Yevrah Swim. Coat: Kate Hundley. Earrings: Lag World. Necklace: Jacquie Aiche. Waist chains: Jacquie Aiche, Yevrah Swim. Rings: Shay, Jacquie Aiche, Erede. Bangles: Alexis Bittar. Shoes: Rene Caovilla.
While Harvey never met the real Folana, who is now 82 and has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since her retirement, she acknowledges the impact Folana had on future generations of actors like her. “I loved how confident she was. She was really a badass and was just that girl during that era. I hope I did her justice,” Harvey says. Folana’s confidence is also what Harvey saw the most about her in herself. “As I’m getting older and more confident in who I am, I definitely relate to her on that level,” she says. “I think I am that girl. I think everybody should feel like they’re that girl.”
Along with being her first role, Fight Night also holds a special place in Harvey’s heart for another reason. The series is set in Atlanta and tells the story of how the city, once a railroad town, became the “Black mecca” of the United States. Harvey was born in Memphis but grew up in Atlanta, where she spent most of her childhood as the youngest of seven children. Her parents still live there, so when she showed up at her family’s house days before production started on Fight Night, her dad, Steve Harvey, was surprised to learn she had begun acting—let alone booked her first TV show.
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Scarf: Hermes. Swimsuit: Yevrah Swim. Coat: Kate Hundley. Earrings: Lag World. Necklace: Jacquie Aiche. Waist chains: Jacquie Aiche, Yevrah Swim. Rings: Shay, Jacquie Aiche, Erede. Bangles: Alexis Bittar. Shoes: Rene Caovilla.
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Scarf: Hermes. Swimsuit: Yevrah Swim. Coat: Kate Hundley. Earrings: Lag World. Necklace: Jacquie Aiche. Waist chains: Jacquie Aiche, Yevrah Swim. Rings: Shay, Jacquie Aiche, Erede. Bangles: Alexis Bittar. Shoes: Rene Caovilla.
“It honestly wasn’t even intentional not telling him. We’re just so busy. We’re always in different time zones. I don’t even think I know where he is right now. He could be in Africa,” Harvey jokes. “When I got home, he was like, ‘What are you here for?’ I was like, ‘Oh, I’m filming.’ He’s like, ‘Filming what?’ It didn’t register to him, even as I was saying it. Of course, once I told him the cast, he was like, ‘This is a big deal. You got to focus. You got to lock in. I’m so proud of you, but it’s work time now.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I know I’ve been working. Don’t worry.’”
But just because Harvey grew up around Hollywood doesn’t mean she didn’t have anxiety the first time she stepped onto the set of Fight Night. After all, one of her first scenes was with the Samuel L. Jackson, a family friend who she affectionately knew as Uncle Sam, but needed to view as the “Black Godfather” of New York’s criminal underworld. “Being with him in a work setting was very nerve-wracking, obviously, because he is a legend. I just wanted to do a good job and impress him,” Harvey says. “He would be super encouraging. He would be like, ‘That was it! That was the one! Now you’re getting comfortable. You’re feeling it now.’ That helped me relax.”
With the family she grew up in, Harvey is aware of the effect her last name had on where she is in her career. But that doesn’t negate the work that she put in to stay there. “There are definitely advantages to it. Anybody who says there aren’t is either delusional or very tone deaf. I’ve definitely had advantages. I’m not blind to that,” she says. “I’m extremely grateful and appreciative for all the advantages I’ve had. But just because you have it easier to get in the door, does not mean that you will be able to stay in the door just because of who your parents are. You have to actually put the time and put the work in and be good at whatever it is you’re doing. I have definitely gotten a leg up and had doors been open for me because of my dad, but I had to put the work in when I got there.”
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Bra, dress & underwear: Dolce & Gabbana. Coat: Michael Kors. Tights: Calzedonia. Shoes: Andrea Wazen. Earrings: K Salamoon. Bracelet: Jacquie Aiche. Rings: Mondo Mondo, Jacquie Aiche, Shay.
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Bra, dress & underwear: Dolce & Gabbana. Coat: Michael Kors. Tights: Calzedonia. Shoes: Andrea Wazen. Earrings: K Salamoon. Bracelet: Jacquie Aiche. Rings: Mondo Mondo, Jacquie Aiche, Shay.
Harvey is also proud of her father. She never considered dropping his last name to distance herself from him in Hollywood, and she even named Yevrah, her swimwear brand, after their shared last name backward. Her older brother, Jason Harvey, used the name first for a now-defunct footwear company before she asked for his permission to keep the legacy going with Yevrah.
Harvey launched Yevrah with Revolve in 2023. The brand was one of Revolve’s most talked-about swimwear partnerships of the year 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 around, though, Harvey fully operated the brand on her own via Yevrah’s new site, yevrahswim.com.
You’re expected to be very, very tall and very, very thin. I definitely was self conscious about it when I first started, because I’m not a traditional model.
“When we initially launched, I wanted to launch it with Revolve. They have such an incredible infrastructure that they’ve built,” she says. “I wanted Yevrah to be a part of their brand as to help promote it, get eyes on it, and be in their orbit of their clientele space. Once we did that, and it was very, very successful, I knew I wanted to launch my own site. It was really all about timing.”
Though Yevrah has a new home and fresh designs, it’s still committed to the same values Harvey had when she first came up with the idea for the company years ago. One of those values was size inclusivity—Yevrah’s sizes range from XS to XXL—something important to Harvey after spending years as a model and struggling to fit into sample sizes. “I absolutely felt pressure to be a certain size, especially when I first started,” she says. “When you’re backstage and they’re fitting you, everything is sample size. You’re expected to be very, very tall and very, very thin. I’ll be honest, I definitely was self-conscious about it when I first started, because I’m not a traditional model. When it came to developing my brands, I was like, ‘OK, inclusivity is number one on my list.’”
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Bra, dress & underwear: Dolce & Gabbana. Coat: Michael Kors. Tights: Calzedonia. Shoes: Andrea Wazen. Earrings: K Salamoon. Bracelet: Jacquie Aiche. Rings: Mondo Mondo, Jacquie Aiche, Shay.
A swimwear brand is also a far cry from what Harvey thought she would be doing as a kid. A self-described tomboy, her outfits rotated between two looks: a baggy polo with baggy shorts or a baggy T-shirt with baggy pants. It wasn’t until her mom brought her to her first fashion week show at 12 years old that she was officially bit by the fashion bug that led to her career now. “I loved the energy and the artistry behind it,” she says. “Then it was, ‘I want the dresses. I want the little heels. I want the little purses. I want everything.’”
As the owner of two brands—her skin care brand, SKN by LH, sold out within 48 hours of its launch—Harvey also dispels the stereotype that she was just another celebrity who slapped her name on a company. “I’m literally the brand. Everything runs and flows through me,” she says. “I handle all the creative, product development, design—you name it, everything from curating the Instagram down to the content of the shoots. Let’s clear that misconception up. She is heavily involved. She is the brand.”
Even with two thriving companies and a burgeoning acting career, Harvey still has a long list of goals she wants to achieve. For starters, she’d like to launch her own fragrance and clothing line. She’d also like to star in a comedy. After all, humor does run in her family. “I think I’m quite hilarious, so I would love to showcase that,” she says. What’s off the table is stand-up. She also doesn’t see herself acting alongside her father. “I don’t think he is acting anymore. I think he’s done with that,” she says. “I would be shocked if he did another acting role because he’s starting to wind down. My dad is older. I told him, ‘I give you two more years tops, and I think you’re gonna retire.’ I think I missed that window.”
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Versace. Earrings: Lag World.
Photo: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Versace. Earrings: Lag World.
While Harvey teases that she has another exciting acting project in the works, she assures it’s not a role in her dad’s upcoming biopic, which she joked with E! News at the Fight Night’s red carpet in September that she wanted to play herself in. “I was joking. When the biopic is set, I don’t think I was born yet. I think it’s just him when he was younger. If I read it correctly, I don’t think any of us will be in it. I think it’ll just be based on him,” she says.
The week after her cover shoot with StyleCaster, Harvey flew to New York City for the premiere of Fight Night and an appearance on the TODAY show. She was only there for a hot second before returning to her home in Los Angeles for a quick break before jetting off again to Milan, London, and Paris for a month of fashion weeks. In between then, she has meetings for her two companies and is still in regular acting lessons to perfect her craft.
With her schedule constantly on the go, Harvey understands how her life can come across on the outside. But she assures you, she’s clocked in. “People think my life is just one long vacation,” she says. “I try to take it as a compliment, because I’m like, ‘OK, I guess that means I make it look easy.’” When asked if that preconceived notion ever bothers her, she pauses before casting the idea away. “For a second, but then I got over it because I was like, ‘Girl, you work your butt off,’” she says. “Let the work speak for itself.”
Photographer: Michael BucknerArt Director: Sasha PurdyProduction Manager: Roya BacklundStylist: Jill Jacobs StudioMakeup: Leah Darcy with Infinity Creative AgencyHair: Ray Christopher with The Wall GroupPhotography Assistant: River CallawayStyling Assistants: Kassidy Taylor, Jazzy Carrillo
