Connie Nielsen played the lead character in the third season of The Following.
Lateefah Simon -LRB- born January 29 , 1977 in San Francisco -RRB- is the president of the Akonadi Foundation and an advocate for civil rights and racial justice .. San Francisco. San Francisco. Akonadi Foundation. Akonadi Foundation. In 2003 , she became the youngest woman to receive a MacArthur Fellowship , for her leadership of the Center for Young Women 's Development -LRB- CYWD -RRB- from age 19 .. MacArthur Fellowship. MacArthur Fellows Program. Under San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris , Simon led the creation of San Francisco 's Reentry Division , with Back on Track , an advocacy program for young adults charged with low-level felony drug sales .. San Francisco. San Francisco. Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris. Simon has been the executive director of the Lawyers ' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the program director of the Rosenberg Foundation .. San Francisco. San Francisco. She was elected to represent the seventh district on the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board of directors in 2016 .. Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Her motivations for running included her reliance on BART , as someone legally blind and unable to drive .. Simon studied social entrepreneurship at Stanford University and public policy at Mills College , where will be the 2017 Commencement speaker .. Stanford University. Stanford University. Mills College. Mills College. She is the mother of two children and has written about the difference in how she was treated as an unwed mother and as a widowed mother .