Ciara Renée

Renée was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.^[3] She attended Central Dauphin East High School and graduated with a degree in Music Theatre from Baldwin Wallace University in 2013.^[3]

In September 2013,^[4] Renée made her Broadway debut at the Neil Simon Theatre as The Witch in Big Fish^[5] after working in a pre-Broadway workshop of Bull Durham.^[3] In February of the following year, she was cast in a revival of the musical Pippin, replacing Patina Miller as the Leading Player.^[3] Renée guest-starred on Law & Order: SVU in the fall of 2014 on NBC.^[6] Based on the Victor Hugo novel and animated Disney film of the same name, Renée took on the role of Esmeralda in a musical adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Paper Mill Playhouse in association with the La Jolla Playhouse from March 15 to April 5 of 2015,^[7] a performance the Daily News described as "earthy and lovely".^[8] In March 2015, it was announced that Renée had been cast as Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl in The CW's spin-off series DC's Legends of Tomorrow, an expansion of the network's existing universe of DC Comics adaptations.^[6] Renée introduced the character in a special guest appearance on the first-season finale of The Flash on May 20, 2015, followed by four appearances in Arrow that same year, before DC's Legends of Tomorrow premiered in January 2016.

In 2016, Renée played Susan in the Off-Broadway revival of Jonathan Larson's autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!.^[9] The production ran from October 20 to December 18. On November 22, Lilli Cooper replaced her in the role.^[10]

In the summer of 2017, she played Mary Magdalene in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri.

It was announced on January 15, 2020 that Renée would be returning to Broadway to play Elsa in Frozen beginning February 18.^[11] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Broadway theatres were closed in March 2020. Disney later announced that Frozen would not reopen after the lockdown.^[12]

Renée replaced country singer Jennifer Nettles as Jenna in the Broadway musical Waitress on November 25, 2021 and performed opposite Joshua Henry as Dr. Pomatter.^[13]

On August 25, 2025, it was revealed that Renée had filed a lawsuit against the producers of the musical Wanted after she was informed that she was to be re-cast prior to the show transferring to Broadway. Renée had played the co-lead role of Mary Clarke during a run at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey when the show was titled Gun and Powder, with the suit alleging that Renée's contract for that initial run guaranteed her "the right to continue [in the role] in a production of the Play mounted by the producers] in New York or London upon completion of good faith negotiations".^[14]