Kiersey Nicole Clemons (born December 17, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the 2015 comedy-drama film ''
Dope'', playing Cassandra "Diggy" Andrews. Subsequently, she went on to co-star in ''
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising'' (2016), ''
Flatliners
''Flatliners'' is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Michael Douglas and Rick Bieber, and written by Peter Filardi. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Ke ...
'' (2017), ''
Hearts Beat Loud
''Hearts Beat Loud'' is a 2018 American comedy-drama music film directed by Brett Haley, from a screenplay by Haley and Marc Basch. It stars Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner and Toni Collette, and follows a Bro ...
'' (2018), ''
Sweetheart'' (2019), ''
Lady and the Tramp
''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hami ...
'' (2019), ''
Scoob!
''SCOOB!'' is a 2020 American computer-animated mystery comedy film produced by the Warner Animation Group, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is a reboot (fiction), reboot of the Scooby-Doo in film, theatrical'' Scooby-Doo'' film se ...
'' (2020), and ''
Zack Snyder's Justice League
''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' (colloquially referred to as the Snyder Cut) is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film ''Justice League'', the fifth film set within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) based on the team of ...
'' (2021).
Clemons had recurring roles in numerous television series, including ''
Austin & Ally
''Austin & Ally'' is an American comedy television series created by Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert that aired on Disney Channel from December 2, 2011 to January 10, 2016. The series stars Ross Lynch, Laura Marano, Raini Rodriguez, and Calum W ...
'' (2013), ''
Transparent
Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to:
* Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material
They may also refer to:
Literal uses
* Transparency (photography), a still, ...
'' (2014–2015), ''
Extant
Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to:
* Extant hereditary titles
* Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English
* Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
'' (2015), and ''
Easy'' (2016–2019), and had a main role in the final season of the comedy series ''
Angie Tribeca
''Angie Tribeca'' is an American comedy television series created by Steve and Nancy Carell, which aired on TBS. The series, a parody of the police procedural genre, stars Rashida Jones as police detective Angie Tribeca. It also stars Hayes MacAr ...
'' (2018).
Early life
Clemons was born on December 17, 1993, in
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...
. She grew up in
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...
. Clemons is biracial, of African-American and white heritage.
Career
Early in her career, Clemons co-starred in the
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
series ''
Austin & Ally
''Austin & Ally'' is an American comedy television series created by Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert that aired on Disney Channel from December 2, 2011 to January 10, 2016. The series stars Ross Lynch, Laura Marano, Raini Rodriguez, and Calum W ...
'' as Kira Starr. She also appeared in the Disney Channel original film ''
Cloud 9''. Clemons guest-starred in the crime-drama series ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...
''. In 2014, she appeared in
Trey Songz
Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...
's music video for "SmartPhones" and "What's Best for You" in which she played his love interest who catches him in the act of cheating via phone call.
From 2014 to 2015, Clemons played Bianca in the comedy series ''
Transparent
Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to:
* Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material
They may also refer to:
Literal uses
* Transparency (photography), a still, ...
''.
She also had a starring role on the
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
original series ''
Eye Candy'' as Sophia. The series only aired for one season. She guest starred in a 2015 episode of ''
New Girl
''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day (Zooey ...
'' as Winston's love interest, KC.
[ Clemons appeared in ]Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
's music video for "Til It Happens to You
"Til It Happens to You" is a song produced and performed by American singer Lady Gaga. She co-wrote the song with Diane Warren for the 2015 documentary film ''The Hunting Ground'', which deals with campus rape in the United States. The song had ...
", and in DJ Snake
William Sami Étienne Grigahcine (born 13 June 1986), known by his stage name DJ Snake, is an Algerian French music producer and DJ, first achieving international recognition in 2013 by releasing an instrumentation-oriented single called " Turn D ...
's music video for " Middle" alongside Josh Hutcherson
Joshua Ryan Hutcherson (born October 12, 1992) is an American actor and producer. Hutcherson began acting in the early 2000s and appeared in several commercials and minor film and television roles before landing his first major role in 2002 in ...
. In 2016, Clemons played Beth in the comedy film '' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.'' She also played Chase, a grad student from Chicago, in episodes of the Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
original series '' Easy''.
In 2016, Clemons was cast as Iris West in the action film ''The Flash'', but the project was delayed due to the departure of director Rick Famuyiwa
Rick Famuyiwa (born June 18, 1973) is an American director, producer and screenwriter of productions including ''The Wood'' (1999), ''Brown Sugar'' (2002), '' Talk to Me'' (2007), '' Dope'' (2015), and ''Confirmation'' (2016). His films have bee ...
. Despite this, she was still slated to appear in the ''Justice League
The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...
'' film as the same character, but her scenes were ultimately cut from the theatrical release. In 2021, Clemons' cut scenes from the 2017 ''Justice League'' movie was eventually released in ''Zack Snyder's Justice League
''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' (colloquially referred to as the Snyder Cut) is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film ''Justice League'', the fifth film set within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) based on the team of ...
''. In March 2021, Clemons closed a deal to appear as Iris West
Iris West is a fictional character, a supporting character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She has been the main love interest and later wife of Barry Allen, the alter ego of the Silver Age version of the superhero The ...
in ''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 ...
'', now directed by Andy Muschietti
Andrés Muschietti (; born August 26, 1973) is an Argentine filmmaker who achieved wide recognition with the 2013 film ''Mama'' which he made with Neil Cross and his sister, producer and screenwriter Barbara Muschietti, based on their three-minut ...
.
In 2017, Clemons co-starred with Callum Turner
Callum Robilliard Turner (born 15 February 1990) is a British actor and model. He is known for his roles as Theseus Scamander in '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' and '' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'', Bill Rohan in ...
in the drama ''The Only Living Boy in New York
"The Only Living Boy in New York" is a song written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel. It is the eighth track from the duo's fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water''. The song was also issued as the B-side t ...
'', and with Elliot Page
Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Elliot Page, various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination, tw ...
in the horror remake ''Flatliners
''Flatliners'' is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Michael Douglas and Rick Bieber, and written by Peter Filardi. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Ke ...
''. In 2018, Clemons co-starred with Nick Offerman
Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...
in musical comedy-drama ''Hearts Beat Loud
''Hearts Beat Loud'' is a 2018 American comedy-drama music film directed by Brett Haley, from a screenplay by Haley and Marc Basch. It stars Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner and Toni Collette, and follows a Bro ...
''. She received the Atlanta Film Festival
The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is a long-running, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia operated by the Atlanta Film Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a ...
's inaugural Phoenix Award for ''Hearts Beat Loud'' in April 2018. In 2019, she co-starred with Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
in the live-action remake musical romance ''Lady and the Tramp
''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hami ...
''. In 2020, Clemons voiced Dee Dee Skyes in the ''Scooby-Doo
''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...
'' film ''Scoob!
''SCOOB!'' is a 2020 American computer-animated mystery comedy film produced by the Warner Animation Group, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is a reboot (fiction), reboot of the Scooby-Doo in film, theatrical'' Scooby-Doo'' film se ...
''
Personal life
Clemons identifies as queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
and uses she/her and they/them
Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...
pronouns. She is in a relationship with Ebony De La Haye, an Australian stunt double
In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...
. The couple met during filming of '' Sweetheart'', where De La Haye doubled Clemons during action sequences.
Clemons suffers from bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
and struggled with the illness especially before she was formally diagnosed.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemons, Kiersey
1993 births
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Los Angeles
African-American actresses
American film actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
Living people
LGBT African Americans
LGBT people from Florida
American queer actresses
Queer women
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American people
People with bipolar disorder