Puppeteer with Puppet Rods, selfie that is definitely art, 2020

Well hi! I’m Kira. My pronouns are they/them. I was born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. My performing career began at age seven, when I marched up to my mother with an ad for the local community production of Carousel and told her, “We need to go to this.” From there I was hooked, involved with every performance opportunity I could grab in my small northern city.

I graduated with honours from the Canadian College of Performing Arts, and moved out to Toronto in 2011, where I discovered a love for puppetry as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut in the premiere Canadian cast of Avenue Q. Puppet magic has become the central pillar of my career, both onstage and onscreen. Most recently I was one of the featured puppeteers for the Jim Henson Company on AppleTV+’s Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock; and you can see and hear me every morning on CBC Kids in Canada as pink kittycat Cottonball, one of the hosts of Studio K.

As an actor, I cherish fun and imaginative roles. I received a Dora nomination for the turn as the Prince in The Little Prince: Reimagined, an adaptation of the classic book by Puzzle Piece; and during the COVID-19 pandemic worked with my partner Ryan Couldrey on a series of short horror pieces entitled Apartment 416. As a voice artist I’ve loaned my voice to commercials for Tim Hortons, The Bay, Hotels.com, and Preakness Stakes, and dove into video games as the voice of Wanda in Skully.

My other interests include puzzles, animated movies, things that are slightly spooky, cats, and books that make me sad.