A talent on the rise, actress and musician Kiersey Clemons has quickly become known for the diverse and captivating characters she has brought to life on screen.
It had been announced that Clemons would be playing Iris West in the Warner Bros film The Flash alongside Ezra Miller, but the project has been put on indefinite hold, with little chance of it going forward. She filmed a cameo in Justice League, alongside Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Amy Adams, which was cut in editing. Additionally, Clemons appeared in Amazon’s The Only Living Boy in New York, opposite Jeff Bridges and Kate Beckinsale, directed by Marc Webb.
Clemons also starred in Sony’s remake of the 1990 thriller Flatliners, which was released on September 29th, 2017. The film was directed by Niels Arden Oplev and co-stars Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev and Kiefer Sutherland. The film is about medical students who experiment on near death experiences that involve past tragedies until the dark consequences begin to jeopardize their lives.
She also co-starred in Nicholas Stoller’s sequel, Universal Pictures’ Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising as Beth opposite Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Chloe Grace Moretz. She can also be seen in the Netflix original series “Easy,” an anthology about modern relationships. Kiersey appears in episode 2, “Vegan Cinderella.”
Clemons is best known for her breakout role in on the big screen in Dope [Open Road Films] which premiered to critical acclaim at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Clemons was scene-stealer Diggy, a tough lesbian high schooler with a colorful imagination who gets caught up in a plan to unload a big stash of drugs. Produced by Forest Whitaker’s Significant Productions and Pharrell Williams. The film won the African-American Film Critics Association award for Best Screenplay and was nominated at multiple festivals including Cannes and the Deauville American Film Festival. In 2016 Dope was nominated for three NAACP Image Awards including Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture, and Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture.
Aside from her work in film, Clemons is also making her mark in television having been seen recurring as Bianca on the Golden Globe and Emmy award winning Amazon series “Transparent.” Additionally, the show was nominated at both The People’s’ Choice Awards and SAG Awards for Favorite Streaming Series and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, respectively. Other recent TV credits include Steven Spielberg’s “Extant” [CBS] alongside Halle Berry and Fox’s “New Girl.”
In addition to acting, Clemons is also a musician. She has collaborated with Grammy Award winning producer/artist Pharrell Williams on multiple tracks, and her vocals can be heard in a handful of projects including Dope and “Transparent.” In September 2015, she appeared in Lady Gaga’s music video “Til it Happens to You,” directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The Emmy winning song was written exclusively for “The Hunting Ground,” a 2015 documentary about the college campus rape epidemic.
Born in Pensacola, Florida, Clemons and her family settled in Redondo Beach, California when she was 12 years old. She was immersed in creativity throughout her childhood, taking vocal lessons, modeling and participating in local theater. By 16-years-old she yearned for a bigger platform, and reached out to an agency seeking representation. They immediately signed her, and soon after she landed her first TV gig, a guest star role on the hit Disney Channel Original series, “Shake it Up!” Proving herself to the network, she eventually became a recurring character, “Kira Starr,” on “Austin & Ally” and starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Cloud 9 as Skye Sailor.
