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Diarra Kilpatrick

American actress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diarra Kilpatrick (born c. 1983) is an American actress, writer, and producer, who has received recognition and awards for work in theatre, TV, and film. She produced, wrote, and starred in two series including American Koko (2017) on ABC, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination,[1][2] and the mystery comedy-drama series, Diarra from Detroit[3] which has also received award nominations.

Born1983 or 1984 (age 42–43)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupations
  • actress
  • writer
  • producer
Yearsactive2006–present
NotableworkDiarra from Detroit, American Koko, The Salton Sea
Quick facts Born, Occupations ...
Diarra Kilpatrick
Kilpatrick at Black Excellence Brunch 2026.
Born1983 or 1984 (age 42–43)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupations
  • actress
  • writer
  • producer
Years active2006–present
Notable workDiarra from Detroit, American Koko, The Salton Sea
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Early life and education

Kilpatrick was born in 1983,[4] and raised in Detroit in the Calumet Townhomes.[5][6][7] She is the half-sister of Kwame Kilpatrick.[5] Her mother Elise supported local arts and hosted artists at their home, and often took Kilpatrick to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Public Library, the Children's Museum, and the Wayne State University art and performing arts building.[7]

As a child she performed in productions at Meadow Brook Theater and at school. When she reached age eligibility at age 12, she joined the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit after having been rejected as too young at age 10, and performed in The Piano Lesson[1] and later an adaptation of Comedy of Errors.[5][4] Kilpatrick attended Bates Academy for the gifted and talented, and later graduated from the Detroit Country Day School, where she had also acted.[1] She earned her bachelor's degree at NYU Tisch.[4]

Career

Theatre

From roughly 2007 to 2015, Kilpatrick acted in Los Angeles theater productions and earned several awards and nominations for stage performances (see Awards).[1][8][9] Her play credits during this time include Three Sisters After Chekhov, Gary Lennon's The Interlopers[10][11], The Royale[12][13][14], Closely Related Keys[15][16][17][18], and Tarell Alvin McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water[19][20][21][22][23] for which she won an LA Weekly Theatre Award and an NAACP Theatre Award. The Hollywood Reporter called her performance luminous.[20] Bob Verini in his review at Arts in LA said, "the stunning Diarra Kilpatrick's [character] Oya begins fresh-faced and ends shattered, yet her decline is so subtly etched we’re practically unaware of her falling apart until it’s too late."[24] Tony Frankel at Stage and Cinema wrote, "it is Diarra Kilpatrick who will have you breathless as she vacillates from wide-eyed innocence to tragic self-realization. [...] Ms. Kilpatrick calls forth incorruptibility with such effortless grace that when rage suddenly emits from the [...] actress, it startles like a crime against nature."[25]

Film

Kilpatrick's first film appearance was in the 2006 romantic drama Forbidden Fruits.[26] She co-starred as a transgender woman in Jason Bushman's queer[27] comedy-drama film Hollywood, je t'aime (2009)[28]. The Hollywood Reporter review by Stephen Farber called her performance adept.[27] She appeared in the independent films H4 (2012), a modernized Shakespeare adaptation, and Jeryl Prescott's drama Stand Down Soldier (2014) which is about the family troubles of PTSD-afflicted woman veteran.[29] In 2015 she had a supporting role in the Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez crime drama film Lila & Eve. In 2016, she starred as a nameless hitchhiker in the drama film The Salton Sea by Veena Sud, for which she received the Nordic International Film Festival award for best actress.[30][31] She later starred in the television film revival of Nash Bridges (2021), a police procedural.[32]

TV Acting, Writing, and Producing

Kilpatrick's first TV appearance was in an episode of House in 2008.[33] She also guest-starred in The Game, Hart of Dixie, Mike & Molly, Southland, Major Crimes, and five appearances on Private Practice. She wrote and served as story editor for episodes of the comedy-drama I'm Dying Up Here[34] The reception of Kilpatrick's web series American Koko (see below) helped her become a staff writer for the NBC police-procedural The Mysteries of Laura[33][9]. She had a recurring role in the comedy series, The Last O.G. and wrote two episodes of the show.[34]

She later starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone reboot in 2019. The Guardian said that her presence was so invigorating that it almost cured flaws in the script.[35] In 2020 she was cast as Clara Drake in the HBO period drama series, Perry Mason.[36][37]

Kilpatrick has created, written, produced, and starred in several projects for TV. In interview, she has explained the impulses behind her projects:

"In television or film, I was going out [i.e. auditioning] a lot for nurses, prostitutes and sassy friends. Every Black actress, and really every actor of color, has that story. I was just interested in doing something that saw a Black woman at the center that went on a journey with her."[4]

Diarra from Detroit (2024-present)

In April 2023, she had signed an overall deal with BET Studios.[38] She created, produced and starred in the Diarra from Detroit, a mystery comedy-drama series set in Detroit. The series received positive reviews from critics.[39][40][41] The show, Kilpatrick's performance, the writing, and the director, earned various award nominations (see Awards below). NPR journalist Tonya Mosley, who is from Detroit, said about the show:

"This work is unlike anything I've ever seen. It's smart and funny while also interweaving some very serious topics, like the epidemic of missing Black children and the social and economic challenges of Detroit. [It also] tackles divorce and friendship and betrayal and police corruption. And did I mention that it's funny? [...] There is a lightness and also a depth that is rarely given to stories about the city. [Kilpatrick] really conveys community and a sense of place that I've never seen [on screen] about our hometown."" -Tonya Mosley of NPR[6]

American Koko (2015 and 2017)

In 2015, she wrote, produced, and starred in a satirical web series, American Koko, on YouTube, and later produced a new version of the show for ABC's digital service ABCd in 2017.[4][42] The original web series won the American Black Film Festival’s Best Web Series Award in 2015. Kilpatrick has said that the budget was $3,000, which was her tax return check.[6][43][44] The web series was noticed by producer/actor Julius Tennon and his wife Viola Davis who picked it up for development at their production company, JuVee Productions.[4][45] The new series was purchased by ABC.[9] The original first season was re-shot and a second season was produced.[2][46] Both seasons premiered online on ABC Digital on June 19, 2017.[47]

The show follows Koko (played by Kilpatrick), who "is a Los Angeles race detective at the Everyone’s a Little Racist Agency (E.A.R), which has the daunting mandate of ending racism in America."[48] The role earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.[49]

"In post-post-racial America, problems of a distinctly racial nature are considered especially heinous. In Lost Angeles, these sticky racial situations are handled by an elite team of problem solvers. Agent Baldwin Bledsoe, our resident genius and social scientist. Lucky Ling, our eternal optimist. Milo Gold, like Batman his superpower is white privilege. And there's Akosua Miller, codename: Koko. Not only an employee, she was also once a client. She was cured of Type 1 Angry Black Woman Syndrome, the kind inherited from residual racial trauma. Working for the Everyone's a Little Racist Agency isn't just a job for Koko, it's a mission. This is her story." -Opening voice-over narrated by Viola Davis[50][6]

The Climb (2017)

Kilpatrick wrote, produced, and starred in a pilot for Amazon Studios in fall 2017 titled The Climb, directed by Chris Robinson and co-produced with Christina Lee through the The Mark Gordon Company.[51][52][53][54] It is a "Detroit-set comedy about an assistant who ditches her job to find internet fame."[49] The series was not picked up by Amazon.[55]

Several reviewers praised Kilpatrick's work in the pilot when it was publicly aired on Amazon Prime. The Guardian's Stuart Heritage compared the pilot to Haters Back Off and also said, "The show is gorgeous to look at, bordering on high fashion at times, and it would undoubtedly land upon a better sense of itself if given a series. However, judging by the pilot alone, it has much less going for it than its competitors."[56] Daniel Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter compared it to SMILF and downplayed comparisons to Insecure while saying, "I don’t think The Climb is a great pilot, but I think star and creator Diarra Kilpatrick has a voice and a mindset that are worth supporting. [This pilot is like a] 27-minute short-film showcase reel that would, in a perfect world, be steered by a strong and nurturing network development team."[57] Decider's Brett White compared it to Broad City and said, "Kilpatrick sells every aspect of this character, bringing a rich humanity to social media queens that are often dismissed as vapid."[58]

Personal life

Kilpatrick is married.[37]

Awards and nominations

Filmography

As Actor

Film

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Forbidden Fruits Lisa
2007 Unfinished Waitress Short
2008 Keepin' the Faith: Higher Ground Asia
2009 All Americana Steph Short
Gang Girl Bess Roundtree
Hollywood, je t'aime Kaleesha
Surrender Bess Roundtree Short
2011 Under-Tow Shar Short
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry Afton
2012 H4 Clarice
2014 Stand Down Soldier Billi
Four Women Sarah Short
2015 Lila & Eve Maya
The Brink Jane Short
2016 The Salton Sea The Hitchhiker Nordic International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2020 Baldwin Beauty - Short
2021 The Goldfish Maya Short
14 Days Faitma Short
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Television

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Role Notes
2008 House Sally Episode: "The Itch"
2008–2012 Private Practice Nurse Danielle 5 episodes
2009 The Game Groupie Episode: "Take a Bow"
The Young and the Restless Young Maid Episode: "Episode #1.9195"
2010–2011 Disaster Date Herself Recurring role (season 3); main role (season 4)
2011 Hart of Dixie Mother Episode: "Gumbo & Glory"
2012 Mike & Molly Amira Episode: "Surprise"
2013 Southland Yvette Episode: "Babel"
2014 American Koko Akosua Miller Youtube series, later re-produced with ABC in 2017[6]
2017 American Koko Akosua Miller Main role, producer, writer. Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series[65][69]
2015 Major Crimes Peaches Williams Episode: "The Jumping Off Point"
2017 The Climb Nia TV pilot
2019 The Twilight Zone Didi Scott Episode: "The Comedian"
The Last O.G. Lisa Recurring role
2020–2023 Perry Mason Clara Drake Recurring role (season 1); main role (season 2)
2021 Nash Bridges Lena Harris Television film
2024–present Diarra from Detroit Diarra Brickland Lead role, also creator and producer
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Outstanding Lead Performance, Comedy Series (2024)
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (2024)
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As Writer and Producer

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Role Note Ref.
Writer Producer
2024 Diarra from Detroit Yes Executive Also creator and lead actor [70]
2018 The Last O.G. Yes No [71]
2018 I'm Dying Up Here Yes No Also story editor on 9 episodes
2017 The Climb Yes No TV Pilot [60]
American Koko Yes Yes Re-make by ABC [60][72][73]
2014 The Mysteries of Laura Yes No Staff Writer [60]
2015 American Koko Yes Yes Web series [63]
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References

External links

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