Lori Harvey Talks About Fight Night, Family Support, and Overcoming Body Insecurities as a Model, featuring Steve Harvey | Model

Lori Harvey likes to check with herself within the third individual. “She is moving,” she says when working by her day by day schedule, which incorporates enterprise conferences for 2 firms, interviews, appearing lessons, and making ready for vogue month in London, Paris, and Milan. “She gets hot,” 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 vogue entrepreneur Marjorie Harvey, would consider herself as one other individual. She’s completed a lot within the 27 years of her life that it’s virtually unfathomable. At 14, she was on the observe to grow to be a skilled 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 adverts 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 grow 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, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, primarily based on an armed theft of greater than $1 million of stolen valuables at a get together in Atlanta the evening of Muhammad Ali’s historic comeback struggle in 1970. Despite what haters might imagine, 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.” 

This false impression is why it was necessary for Harvey to audition like anybody else for her position in Fight Night. Though Harvey went to theater camp as a child and had a one-line position within the sitcom The Game as a teenager, it wasn’t till the beginning of 2024, when she made it her New Year’s decision to do one thing that pushed her outdoors of her consolation zone, that she formally made the soar to pursue appearing 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.” 

The timing labored out. Around that very same time, her supervisor heard Peacock was casting for Fight Night, a true crime sequence featuring a who’s who of Hollywood together with 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 group 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 like to work for and earn everything I have. I don’t like to have anything handed to me,” she says.

Even earlier than Fight Night got here round, Harvey had already been working with an appearing coach for the reason that begin of the yr. When she bought the audition, she upped her hours together with her coach considerably earlier than she went in to learn for Lola Folana, a actual singer and Broadway actress who was dubbed considered one of Black Hollywood’s it women within the ‘70s. She nailed it. “I was walking around my kitchen when my manager called me and was like, ‘Guess what? You got it,’” Harvey remembers. “It took a second for it to register because I was like, ‘Wait, is this really happening? Is this real?’”

While Harvey by no means met the true Folana, who's now 82 and has largely stayed out of the highlight since her retirement, she acknowledges the affect 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 can also be what Harvey noticed probably 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 position, Fight Night additionally holds a particular place in Harvey’s coronary heart for an additional motive. The sequence is ready in Atlanta and tells the story of how town, as soon as a railroad city, turned the “Black mecca” of the United States. Harvey was born in Memphis however grew up in Atlanta, the place she spent most of her childhood as the youngest of seven youngsters. Her mother and father nonetheless reside there, so when she confirmed up at her household’s home days earlier than manufacturing began on Fight Night, her dad, Steve Harvey, was stunned to be taught she had begun appearing—not to mention booked her first TV present.

“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 simply because Harvey grew up round Hollywood doesn’t imply she didn’t have anxiousness the primary time she stepped onto the set of Fight Night. After all, considered one of her first scenes was with the Samuel L. Jackson, a household buddy who she affectionately knew as Uncle Sam, however wanted to view as the “Black Godfather” of New York’s prison 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 household she grew up in, Harvey is conscious of the impact her final title had on the place she is in her profession. But that doesn’t negate the work that she put in to remain 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.” 

Harvey can also be pleased with her father. She by no means thought of dropping his final title to distance herself from him in Hollywood, and 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 considered one of Revolve’s most talked-about swimwear partnerships of the yr and has been worn by celebrities like Normani, Winnie Harlow, and Justine Skye. Two years later, over Labor Day weekend 2024, Harvey restocked Yevrah. This time round, she absolutely operated the model on her personal by way of Yevrah’s new website, yevrahswim.com. 

“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 residence and recent designs, it’s nonetheless dedicated to the identical values Harvey had when she first got here up with the thought for the corporate years in the past. One of these values was dimension inclusivity—Yevrah’s sizes vary from XS to XXL—one thing necessary to Harvey after spending years as a mannequin and struggling to suit into pattern 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.’”

A swimwear model can also be a far cry from what Harvey thought she could be doing as a child. A self-described tomboy, her outfits rotated between two appears: 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 vogue week present at 12 years previous that she was formally bit by the style bug that led to her profession 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 proprietor of two manufacturers—her skincare model, SKN by LH, bought out inside 48 hours of its launch—Harvey additionally dispels the stereotype that she was simply one other movie star who slapped her title on a firm. “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 firms and a burgeoning appearing profession, Harvey nonetheless has a lengthy record of objectives she desires to realize. For starters, she’d wish to launch her personal perfume and clothes line. She’d additionally wish to star in a comedy. After all, humor does run in her household. “I think I’m quite hilarious, so I would love 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 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.”

While Harvey teases that she has one other thrilling appearing mission within the works, she assures it’s not a position in her dad’s upcoming biopic, which she joked with E! News on the Fight Night’s pink carpet in September that she needed 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 cowl shoot with StyleCaster, Harvey flew to New York City for the premiere of Fight Night and an look on the TODAY present. She was solely there for a sizzling second earlier than returning to her residence in Los Angeles for a fast break earlier than jetting off once more to Milan, London, and Paris for a month of vogue weeks. In between then, she has conferences for her two firms and continues to be in common appearing classes to excellent her craft. 

With her schedule always on the go, Harvey understands how her life can come throughout on the surface. 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 requested if that preconceived notion ever bothers her, she pauses earlier than casting the thought 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 Buckner
Art Director: Sasha Purdy
Production Manager: Roya Backlund
Stylist: Jill Jacobs
Makeup: Leah Darcy with Infinity Creative Agency
Hair: Ray Christopher with The Wall Group
Photography Assistant: River Callaway
Styling Assistants: Kassidy Taylor, Jazzy Carrillo