Jessica Parker Kennedy (born October 3, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She played Melissa Glaser on the CW series ''

The Secret Circle The Secret Circle is a supernatural, young-adult series of books created by L. J. Smith. The narrative follows the character of Cassie Blake as she is initiated into a "Circle" of eleven other teenage witches and the danger that ensues when they ...

'', Max on the

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

original series '' Black Sails'' and Nora West-Allen / XS on ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

'', and has also appeared on the television series ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'', '' Undercovers'', ''

Kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) *Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...

'' and ''

Colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

''.

Early life

Kennedy was born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the child of a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

father and a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

mother. Growing up, Kennedy says there were very few people of colour around, and she was friends with the sole black girl at her school. She had gravitated to friendships with other black people later as a means of finding community. Kennedy was raised Jewish.https://www.hellomagazine.com/brides/20221102155577/911-lone-star-ronen-rubinstein-jessica-parker-kennedy-married-exclusive/

Career

Kennedy portrayed supervillain Plastique in the television series ''

'', the role of Tami in the 2008 comedy film ''

Another Cinderella Story ''Another Cinderella Story'' is a 2008 American teen musical comedy film directed by Damon Santostefano and written by Erik Patterson and Jessica Scott. The film stars Selena Gomez, Drew Seeley and Jane Lynch. It is a sequel to ''A Cinderella Sto ...

'' and the recurring character of Natalee on the 2007 television series ''

'' on MTV. Kennedy was originally cast in the

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...

-produced 2010 spy drama series '' Undercovers'' as the younger sister of the female lead (played by

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw (; born 21 April 1983) is a British actress who is known for her performances on stage and screen. In 2017 she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama ...

) but was later replaced by

Mekia Cox Mekia Cox (born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and dancer, known for her recurring role as Sasha in the second and third seasons of The CW drama '' 90210'', Dr. Robyn Charles in the NBC medical drama ''Chicago Med'' and her role as a ...

. Kennedy played Melissa Glaser in

the CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

series ''

'', until the show was cancelled after one season in May 2012. Kennedy was cast as the ambitious Nassau prostitute named Max on the

TV show '' Black Sails''. In 2017, Kennedy joined the CW's

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW Seed. ...

, appearing primarily on the live-action series ''

''. Her character appeared throughout the fourth season and was eventually revealed as

Nora West-Allen ''The Flash'' is an American television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns, based on the DC Comics character the Flash. The series premiered on The CW television network in the United States on October 7, 2014, ...

, and was promoted to series regular for the fifth season using the superhero name XS. She has since returned in recurring capacities for seasons seven and eight. Kennedy is set to appear in a guest role as

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

series ''

Percy Jackson and the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a series of five fantasy novels written by American author Rick Riordan, and the first book series in the ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles''. The novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st centur ...

''.

Personal life

She is in a relationship with Israeli-American actor

Ronen Rubinstein Ronen Rubinstein ( , he, רונן רובינשטיין ; born ) is an Israeli-born American actor, environmental activist and lead singer of the rock band Nights in Stereo. He is best known for his roles as T.K Strand in '' 9-1-1: Lone Star,'' ...

, they reside in Los Angeles, and she was very supportive of him

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as being

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

. They married in August 2022, with a Jewish wedding ceremony.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Jessica Parker 1984 births 21st-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Calgary Black Canadian actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian Jews Canadian television actresses Canadian people of Irish descent Jewish Canadian actresses Living people