9. Felicia Pearson - Second-Degree Murder & Drug Possession
If you're anything like me, you probably spent the first few seasons of HBO's The Wire assuming that the character of Snoop was a man. Snoop is actually a tomboy-ish woman named Felicia Pearson, who at the age of just 14 was convicted of second-degree murder after shooting a girl dead. Pearson was released 6 and a half years later in 2000, and eventually made a name for herself in The Wire after a chance encounter with the show's Michael K. Williams (Omar), which led to her casting. In 2011, however, Pearson was arrested for further drug offences and sentenced to a 7-year suspended sentence, along with 3 years of supervised probation. Though The Wire strove for total authenticity throughout its brilliant five-season run, I don't think anyone expected them to cast
actual criminals...