Kiersey Clemons

KIERSEY CLEMONS IN NEW YORK, APRIL 2015. DRESS: ISABEL MARANT. STYLING: KARL TEMPLER. COSMETICS: DIOR, INCLUDING DIORSKIN NUDE AIR HEALTHY GLOW ULTRA-FLUID SERUM FOUNDATION. HAIR: JAMES PECIS/D+V MANAGEMENT. MAKEUP: PETER PHILIPS FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR. MANICURE: MEGUMI YAMAMOTO FOR DIOR VERNIS/SUSAN PRICE NYC. SET DESIGN: STEFAN BECKMAN/EXPOSURE NY. PRODUCER: SARA ZION FOR PRODN/ ART+COMMERCE. PRODUCTION MANAGER: ASHLEY SCOTT FOR PRODN/ ART+COMMERCE. RETOUCHING: GLOSS STUDIO. DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: NICHOLAS ONG. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: SIMON ROBERTS, HUAN NGUYEN, MARU TEPPEI, AND DEAN PODMORE. STYLING ASSISTANTS: MELISSA LEVY AND ALEKSANDRA KOJ. HAIR ASSISTANT: ADLENA DIGNAM. MAKEUP ASSISTANTS: EMIKO AYABE AND TALY WAISBERG. SET DESIGN ASSISTANTS: MAX ZINSER AND YONATAN ZONSZEIN. PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS: KAIA BALCOS AND JOHN DANIEL POWERS. SPECIAL THANKS: SOHO LOFTS.

At only 21, Kiersey Clemons is already something of a showbiz veteran. She’s made the rounds on a few Disney Channel shows, appeared in the complicated family in the Amazon dramedy Transparent, and, most recently, made waves as a straight-talking lesbian teenager in the Sundance hit Dope. And she already knows what she doesn’t like. “Modeling—it was so boring! Oh, I hated it so much,” she says with a laugh. While the Redondo Beach, California-raised Clemons admits that posing for the camera gave her confidence, she’s more multifaceted a performer than such a static medium could allow for. She is a musician and singer, as well, which came in handy for Dope; her character, Diggy, plays in a punk band with her two best friends. The opportunity was especially exciting because Pharrell Williams, the film’s executive producer, also wrote several songs that the actors performed for the soundtrack. “I was so nervous when he walked in,” she says of their first meeting. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, you’re a normal person.’ He was very humble and really hands-on.”

Clemons plans to keep pushing her limits, appearing in executive producer Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi series Extant alongside Halle Berry, as well as a recurring role on the Fox comedy New Girl. “Things are definitely different now,” she says. “I’m a lot more tired. But it’s a good tired.”

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