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

Well hi! I’m Kira. My pronouns are they/them and she/her. 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 continue to seamlessly move between performance worlds. I discovered a particular aptitude for puppetry as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut in the premiere Canadian cast of Avenue Q, and puppet magic has become a central pillar of my career, both onstage and onscreen. Most recently I have provided puppetry for CBC Kids, TVOKids, and the Australia-based Flying Bark Productions. As an actor, I cherish fun and imaginative roles. I recently 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 have been working with my partner Ryan Couldrey on a series of short horror pieces. 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.

I love to write my own work, from my hit solo play Paleoncology to the award-winning short film Farm is a Four-Letter Word. Active as a playwright and fledging screenwriter, I’m always excited about the possibility for collaboration, especially with artists back home in the North.

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