Tenaya Cleveland's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: With a mother who was a dancer and a father who was an actor, some say that Tenaya Cleveland was practically born onto the stage. According to her mother, she began performing at about the age of 2, when she decided to run on stage during an improvisational dance performance and was incorporated into the show. As a child growing up in Berkeley, California, she performed in the Malcolm X Jazz Chorus (led by Dick Whittington) with greats such as Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson, Mary Stallings and Ritchie Cole. At 10, she made her public acting debut at the Haight Ashbury Repertory Theater in San Francisco, as "The Kid" in their run of "Bleacher Bums".
It wasn't until Tenaya became an adult, however, that she was able to fully pursue her performing career. Since moving to Los Angeles at the age of 19, she has been in over 20 barely-known films, including the award-winning short film "Ring Tone Blues" and the the indie feature film "Hollywood and Vine," by director Eric Minh Swenson (which she also produced). The Hawaiian-born actress also appears in a fun and challenging project called "Ricky is Famous," where a feature film was written (she wrote), shot (she acted) and edited (she applauded) in 48 hours. Other film appearances include the short films, "A Matter of Diplomacy" and "Spud Hunters." "A Matter of Diplomacy" screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The weight of Ms. Cleveland's performing experience is in theater, where her acting began. She starred in the whimsical production of "I Wrote This" at the Sacred Fools Theater Company, which also included a piece written by her at the age of 6 3/4 years old, called "the funniest... a melodrama worthy of a movie on the Lifetime network," in a review by Backstage West. She also starred as Ilsa in the Pulp-Fiction-meets-Ed-Wood comedy, "Kookamonga Falls", at the Edge of the World Theater Festival. The L.A. Weekly called her performance "Smoldering." Tenaya continues to demonstrate her ability to multitask by appearing regularly in the Powerhouse's highly acclaimed "No Shame Theater" (as an actor and writer), and the Sacred Fools Theater's "Serial Killers" (as actor and co-writer), "Late Night Fast & Loose" (as an actor and director) and "Ten Tops" (performing spoken word and songs).
In addition to appearing on television shows such as the "Jamie Kennedy Experiment" and HBO's "Six Feet Under", the songstress has been known to perform original and cover songs, often a cappella in various open mike/variety shows in and around Los Angeles, and began recording songs in 2008.
Ms. Cleveland resides in Los Angeles, California.
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