In 2016, she produced and starred as Michelle Robinson Obama in the biographical romantic drama film, Southside with You receiving NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture nomination.

She graduated from Longwood Senior High School in Middle Island, New York and studied at Marymount Manhattan College where she majored in communications.

[3] Sumpter began her career as a model and appeared in commercials for Hewlett-Packard and Liz Claiborne's Curve fragrances.

[3] In 2004, she served as the co-host for the reality series Best Friend's Date, which was broadcast on Nickelodeon's defunct cable channel The N, now titled TeenNick.

For her portrayal of Layla, Sumpter was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 2008.

From January to May 2011, Sumpter appeared in The CW teen drama series, Gossip Girl as Raina Thorpe.

[10] Sumpter is heard on the Sparkle: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and appears in the music video for "Celebrate".

Like the original film, this sequel was panned by most critics but was a box office success, grossing $124.6 million worldwide during its theatrical run.

[33] In his Sundance review, The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic Todd McCarthy wrote: “From the first second she’s onscreen, the striking Tika Sumpter is 100 percent the Michelle Obama the public has come to know: formidable, intellectually probing and a bit fierce.”[34] Sumpter received Gotham Awards and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture nominations for this performance.

[36] In 2018, Sumpter appeared opposite Robert Redford and Casey Affleck in the crime drama film, The Old Man & the Gun, directed by David Lowery.

[42] In 2019, Sumpter was cast in the ABC comedy series, Mixed-ish, a prequel spinoff of Black-ish, playing the role of Alicia, Rainbow's mother.

In 2020, she starred as Maddie Wachowski in the action-adventure comedy film, Sonic the Hedgehog based on the video game franchise.

[49] She starred opposite Snoop Dogg in the sports comedy film The Underdoggs that is set to release on January 26, 2024 by MGM.