The Official Press Kit Of
Actress & Mentor Ciera Payton
Most recently known for her roles in Spike Lee’s ‘Oldboy’, USA Network’s ‘Graceland’, TNT’s ‘The Closer’, and many other works, New Orleans’ own, Actress Ciera Payton, now adds CBS’ new comedy series ‘Bad Teacher’ to her growing résumé.
Being inspired by Maya Angelou's 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings', Ciera discovered her artistic gifts at a young age, using the arts to work through the obstacles of her childhood. She would have to grow up fast as she was faced with the loss of her caregivers at the age of 13; her grandmother to cancer and her father to prison, but she would not become a statistic. Being reunited with her mother, a world of opportunities would open up for Ciera, including the opportunity to share her story in the one-woman Off-Broadway show, “Michael’s Daughter”, which is being requested nationwide!
In 2006, as her family was recovering from Hurricane Katrina, the opportunity to audition, and be booked for, Steven Segal’s ‘Flight of Fury’, came her way, adding a significant role to her résumé. She would be starring opposite Seagal himself.
After obtaining her BFA in Drama from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2008, Ciera returned to New Orleans, continuing her work as the Associate Director of ‘What Girls Know’, a theater program dedicated to empowering inner city teenage girls. This experience would confirm Ciera’s lifetime role as a mentor. She has since gone on to form alliances with organizations such as ‘Girls For A Change’ and ‘Step Up Women’s Network’ to increase her impact in the lives of under-resourced youth, both nationally and globally.
Today, Ciera enjoys her primary residence in Los Angeles, but is sure to be boarding a plane to New York or New Orleans any day of the week.
Media
By Desire Faulk
I Am JMARiiE Magazine Look into the life of actress Ciera Payton, the New Orleans born native who is the daughter of Michael Payton. This actress is not only making new moves in her career on screen, but she’s acting off the camera as well in the community. With new opportunities such as her new shows “Bad Teacher” and Spike Lee’s “OldBoy”, she has made avenues to do her own thing. Take a look… Ciera is storming onto the scene starting off with her new one-woman show “Michael’s Daughter”. Michael’s Daughter will be showing in New York on November 23, 2013, after showing a successful premiere in Los Angeles, CA this past March. The encouraging autobiography entails stories about loving her father from far, while he’s incarcerated. The emotion filled dialogue places you directly in the wet ink of their conversations. “Majority of the dialogue comes from what he writes me in letters” expressed Ciera. Written, directed and produced by Ciera “Michael’s Daughter” is also co-directed by Faythallegra Coleman. The young actress got her inspiration to write the play after leaving New York and setting sail for Los Angeles. There she sat in an empty apartment with her father’s letters in hand that were filled with stories of her grandparents’ love; an interracial romance amongst a white married woman and her black lover. These letters may have been just letters at the time, but a masterpiece, “Michael’s Daughter”, was being birthed all the while. Ciera’s relationship with her father spawned her passion to help girls in similar situations. This caused for partnership with Girls for a Change and Step Up Women’s Network. Ciera shared that the founder of Girls for a Change held an event last year, called “Dance With My Father”. This dance was held for girls with incarcerated fathers which for some of them was their first time dancing with their fathers. With inspiration from the program, Ciera teamed up with KissableMe Lipstick Line. A lipstick line based out of Los Angeles with a variety of different lady flavors (“Whine” being Ciera’s personal favorite)! Every time a purchase is made of any color from the line of lipsticks, a portion of the profit goes to Girls for a Change and Step Up Women’s Network.
When Ciera isn’t helping girls’ one lipstick or letter at a time, she is on the set of “Bad Teacher” which is the movie turned sitcom, where she plays a love interest to one of Hollywood’s elite. “I didn’t know much of the movie, but once I researched it, I found it to be really funny and I think the show is going to be the same” Ciera states. I personally loved “Bad Teacher” as a movie, so I’m super stoked about it being a show, even more so that Ciera gets to give a glimpse of those acting skills! I will be tuning in. Here’s how you can help Girls For A Change and Step Up Women’s Network by purchasing from the KissableMe Lipstick Line: Customers making a minimum purchase of $25 or more at www.kissablemelipstick.com, using the code EmpowerYouth, will receive 10% off their order. In turn, KissableMe Lipstick will donate a portion of all EmpowerYouth sales to Girls For A Change and Step Up Women’s Network. Want to see what Ciera is up to? Follow her on Instagram @CallmeCeeCee, or check out her website www.CieraPayton.com
Photo Credit: Brandon Espy Photography Kissable Me Lipstick Makeup Artist: Erica Pennings
Actress Ciera Payton Takes on New Role as Camp Counselor in New Orleans
Actress Ciera Payton in her role as media arts instructor of the 2-Cent Entertainment Summer Camp (Doug MacCash / NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
By Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune July 27, 2013 It was a hot Friday morning in a vacant lot on Hollygrove Street. Two dozen high school kids were helping build an outdoor book exchange, a sort of mini-library where neighbors could drop off books they had read and pick ones they hadn’t. A circular saw whined from time to time. Hammers pounded nails. The kids joked and laughed. It was a community service activity day during a summer camp for teens. The unusual part of the scene was the Hollywood actress, who chatted with the kids as she sat in the back of a pickup truck placing rings of frozen pineapple into snack bags. Ciera Payton, a New Orleans native and graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, appears on the TV show “Graceland” and has had parts on "The Closer” and the classic daytime drama “Days of Our Lives." She’s a Los
Angeles actress on the rise, with the kind of experience those aspiring to work in the burgeoning New Orleans film industry dream of acquiring. That’s what made her perfect for this particular summer camp. Building a neighborhood book drop was a community service sideline. The main purpose of the 2-Cent Entertainment Summer Camp, founded by artist and video producer Brandan Odums, is to introduce Crescent City teens to the film trade, which has become a feature of the local jobs market. "When I heard of this program," Payton said, "I wanted to come back home and jump on board." Payton is one of the camp's media arts instructors. “Basically, we are teaching media arts literacy to New Orleans youth,” she said. “They’re learning filmmaking skills, both from behind the camera and in front of the camera. We’re making five short films discussing five different issues here in the city: job development, rebuilding New Orleans, stopping the shooting, improving NOPD and how to prevent violence in the city.” Payton is no stranger to the grittier side of Crescent City life. She has composed a one-woman play inspired by letters she has exchanged with her imprisoned father. She performed the play in Los Angeles, but the show has yet to be produced in New Orleans. “A lot of kids do have parents that are incarcerated,” she said. “I believe the statistic is that one in 42 American kids have a parent that is incarcerated or in jail. I’ve seen just how it affected my life across the board, and I decided to write a one-woman show to discuss the experience. I think a lot of time when I show up at places to talk to people, people assume I came from some privileged background, but when I start talking about my experience, it’s just not so at all. I did grow up in the 3rd Ward. I was in an environment that harbored a lot of drug addicts and alcoholics, and I do think that’s why I gravitated to go into acting or into arts, because I didn’t have any other way to express my feelings or have some kind of outlet.” Payton has recently reached a new acting plateau, with a role in Spike Lee’s movie "Oldboy" that is expected to open in late October.
“It’s kind of one of my first big roles, working with A-list talent, and it was pretty cool. Spike is a really tough director. He knows what he wants, and he wants it now. It was very challenging, but at the end of the day, he got some really good stuff out of me.” The kids seated in the pickup truck bed with Payton were attentive as she described her audition with director Lee. “I walked into the room and he was sitting there and I just got this thing in me, whether I was going to fight or flee. I was like: ‘I’m going to fight.’ So I went in there, put on my game face and said my lines. It ended up being like a work session, and I was probably in the room for 45 minutes working on actually two different characters that he had me audition for. At the end of the day, he cast me as the ‘sassy receptionist.’” As the morning wore on, the tiny library took shape. A small roof appeared above the four red shelves. Cartons of donated books lay on the grass awaiting the moment their contents would be put on display. The man with the weed cutter, who was supposed to trim the grass around the broken concrete path, had not yet arrived. Maybe he was lost. It was even hotter. A camp counselor passed out bottles of water. It was someone’s birthday, so cake was cut and dispersed. Kids nibbled on frozen pineapple rings. The sassy receptionist crouched in the grass, helping brush the details on a colorful painting of a tree blossoming with books, meant to draw attention to the library. The five-week-long 2-Cent Entertainment Camp was presented in cooperation with ‘New Orleans' Job 1’ (a municipal program to foster jobs) and ‘Nola-For-Life’ (the mayor’s program to reduce the murder rate). Payton said she hopes there will be a crowd when the campers' films are screened Monday, July 29, at 6 p.m. in Xavier University’s ballroom. The screening is open to the public.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2013
Actress Sheds Light on Children of Incarcerated Parents in One-Woman Play
Ciera Payton sets out to give a voice to these often under-represented youth In 2010, a report from Pew Charitable Trusts found that of the nation’s 2.3 million inmates, more than half were parents of children under 18. Of these inmates, nearly 1 million are African American. Research has shown that these children are at a higher risk of dropping out of school, engaging in delinquent behaviors and becoming incarcerated themselves. One story of a daughter’s experience with her father’s incarceration is the subject of the one-woman play, “Michael’s Daughter,” created by actress Ciera Payton. Best known for her roles on “Days of Our Lives” and “The Closer,” Payton tells her story of what it was like growing up in the 3rd Ward of New Orleans in a 2 bedroom shot-gun house that was home to her drug addicted father, grandmother and alcoholic aunts. Acknowledging the positive benefits of the arts in her upbringing, Payton created and
now performs “Michael’s Daughter” to captivated audiences around the country, sharing her wounds and healing, while artfully portraying those who affected her childhood the most. Her performance gives a universal appeal and impact, transcending race, gender, and economic class, touching people of all backgrounds and moving many to search out how they might be able to help children of incarcerated parents. The goal for “Michael’s Daughter” is to enable it as a tool of healing for youths and communities around the country. Payton’s ultimate goal? To provide creative outlets for inner city children through a variety of youth oriented programs. She has learned many valuable lessons through performing and has found it is therapeutic and more notably, a way to confront the continuous cycle of poverty, violence, and addiction, as well as the effects of incarceration that plague minority youth. On Saturday, November 23, 2013, Payton will perform “Michael’s Daughter” in the 2013 United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC. In order to make the presentation a success, an IndieGoGo campaign is currently running to raise funds for the production. Perks for donating range from social media shoutouts by the actress to a one-on-one meet and greet with Payton. A portion of donations received through the campaign will benefit Step Up Women’s Network and Girls For A Change. In Payton’s own words, “Michael’s Daughter is not just a play, it’s a movement!”
Payton performs Michael's Daughter at the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival. Photo: Scott Mitchell
Find out more about the IndieGoGo campaign and view the promo video by visiting www.indiegogo.com/projects/michael-s-daughter-in-nyc. Tickets for the NY show may be purchased at http://unitedsolo.org/us/tickets-are-on-sale-4/.
nytheater now
The New York Theatre Experience
Michael’s Daughter The 4th annual UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL is at Theater Row on 42nd Street October 3 – November 24 with 121 productions. Indie Theater Now Playwright Ed Malin looks at ‘Michael’s Daughter’ Ciera Payton’s solo show Michael’s Daughter covers a lot of ground in one hour. It tells a true, sad story from many points of view with grace, courage, and humor. Ciera’s father is incarcerated in Louisiana; 1 in 43 Americans has a parent in prison, and statistically, 75% of those children will also end up in prison. This sobering information is written on the backdrop of the stage, next to warm pictures of various New Orleans families. Like many from that melting-pot city, Ciera is of mixed black and white background. This comes out in the many authentic voices she portrays. The story starts with her reminiscences of growing up in the Third Ward, which has given us rappers like Soulja Slim. Ciera shows she can rap, too, as she explains how to make crack rocks, something she learned from her father, Michael. Michael is shown to have tried his best for his family, moving his daughter from a dangerous school to another which, besides being located next to the distractions of Bourbon Street, was much better. At the same time, Michael sold drugs on the side, as did his relatives. As Ciera, who made her way to New York, Chicago, L.A., etc. tells it, it’s hard to break the cycle when you go to schools better known for classroom fights than for education. This is a theme she revisits when she sees her father in prison, wearing a coordinated denim uniform that she implies is the next step from New Orleans school uniforms. Various other family members and Michael himself have their say, including honest talk about the joys of drugs and sex. It’s a story that broke my heart, but made everyone laugh when Orleans Parish Prison was ironically referred to as “O.P.P.” It’s an argument for changing the lives of the people who end up in prison, and for saving the $60,000,000 per year it costs to keep them locked up. Director Faythallegra Claude effortlessly moves the story between the different narrators, adding in the drug user’s stutter and hard masculine language or the aunt’s seen-it-all tone. She and Ciera have brought us a memorable performance which sparks dialogue on this important issue.
ACTRESS CIERA PAYTON ON HOLLYWOOD, HEART-ACHE AND LOVING NOLA April 10, 2013 By Staff New Orleanians should get to know actress Ciera Payton. Not because she’s a beloved daughter of our great city; nor because poet Maya Angelou once told her ‘Everybody’s going to know your name one day, Ms. Payton.’ We should get to know the promising starlet because she represents the infinite possibilities that can arise from unfortunate circumstances. She has learned to transform personal trial into art- an art form she both discovered and embraced right here in the Crescent City. Only 26, Payton has already made impressive strides as a working actress in Los Angeles, CA, the city she moved to nearly 3 years ago in pursuit of Hollywood stardom. To date, Payton has landed roles on several major network television shows like The Closer (TNT), Common Law (USA), NCIS (CBS), and most recently USA’s Graceland. Payton says she was very fortunate, after graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts in 2008, to score a prominent role opposite action star Steven Seagal in the film “Flight of Fury.” Although Payton appears to be gaining momentum toward her dream, she concedes that her journey has been- and continues to be- filled with overwhelming obstacles. “This business is very, very hard,” Payton says, but insists, “Every time I want to quit, something happens.” Something good that is. Payton believes that her relative success has been the result of consistent prayer coupled with a diligent work ethic. “I’m still not at a place where I precisely want to be,” but says she is grateful because she gets plenty of work, and “good work,” she adds proudly. “The day-to-day struggle of weekly auditions is often accompanied by as many rejections”, she says. Ironically, her drive and determination is rooted in a disappointing New Orleans upbringing- one that has pushed many youth, who have lived through similar circumstances, to horrific outcomes. Payton concedes that her overall story could have taken a very different turn. “As a child I dealt with a lot of stuff,” Payton says. "Sometimes I wonder how I didn't end up addicted to drugs or alcohol." Payton is the product of a broken home. And from ages 5 to 13, split time with her mother in Eastern New Orleans, but spent the majority in Central City with her father, Michael, who battled with drug addiction. Payton recalls a revolving door of people with ill-formed habits. The environment was often depressing and certainly not suitable for an only child, she says. She vividly remembers forcing herself to escape her surroundings by writing stories drawn from her imagination, and then acting them out with her toy dolls. “It was very dysfunctional, and what I would do at the time is escape into my own fantasy world,” she says.
“I think that’s why I gravitated toward acting,” she explains. “It allowed me to be something else and be somewhere else.” Despite her father’s addiction, Payton says they have always shared a close relationship and firmly believes he did everything he could, within his limited capacity, to provide for her. Unfortunately, nothing could keep him from meeting a fate that befalls many who toil with addiction. Upon entering high school, Payton was also enrolled at NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts) as the youngest student in her drama class. The same year, her father would be arrested and sent to Orleans Parish Prison. Helping to cope with the loss, Payton says NOCCA offered a sense of safety and stability, and that the staff treated her like family. “I was able to confide in a lot of my teachers about what I was going through at home,” she says, adding that she also profited from intense and rigorous drama training which she still values today. “I think it shaped who I am, and I’ll always be forever grateful for that.” “I also think that’s where I found my voice.” Payton would later merge her strong theatre training with the pain of her father being imprisoned, yet again, in 2008. She reflects on the day she originally arrived to Los Angeles alone in a nearly-vacant apartment; no agent, and with very little money. Her only possession was box of unopened letters written to her by her father from prison which she had never bothered to read. “When he went to prison in 2008, I just kind of gave up on him because I couldn’t continue to go through that heart-ache anymore,” she says. “I opened that box of all the letters and I was touched,” Payton says. “I cried and I laughed,” explaining that her father’s sincerity could be simultaneously piercing yet humorous. “He’s funny and at the same time has always been an open book with me,” she says. Payton realized that these letters could serve as a form of therapy, as well as, inspiration for others. It was in the spirit of their written exchanges that Payton created a powerful one-woman stage-play titled “Michael’s Daughter,” which she has been performing since 2011 (most recently at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival in March of this year). There are many who have treaded similar paths to Payton who often choose to avoid such hurt. To the contrary, Payton is emboldened by it. She owns it all. Her past is intimately connected to everything she does and will do in the future, she believes. One of her goals is to return to New Orleans and re-engage young under-served girls with a project she was involved in during high school (in New Orleans) called “What Girls Know.” The program teaches the fundamentals of acting to young girls through a series of workshops. “What we do with the girls is take from their life experiences and teach them a play, and the girls present the play to their families in a theatre setting,” she says. “If I were a kid (living in New Orleans) it would’ve been a program that I would have been in.” “That’s my dream to do something like this in New Orleans,” she says, adding that she would also like to one day perform "Michaels Daughter" in her hometown. “I will never forget where I came from.” To find out more about Ciera Payton, visit www.CieraPayton.com or MichaelsDaughter.org.
F A C T SH E E T Full Name:
Ciera Latoya Payton
Date of Birth: January 26, 1986 Place of Birth: Hattiesburg, MS Education and Training: University of the North Carolina School of the Arts – Winston-Salem, NC New Orleans Center for Creative Arts – New Orleans, LA Negro Ensemble Company – New York, NY Lesly Kahn Institute – Los Angeles, CA Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop – Los Angeles, CA Television Bad Teacher Graceland Days of Our Lives The Mentalist Common Law Californication Torchwood The Closer Fake it Till You Make It Body of Proof All My Children Wild Card
RECURRING CO-STAR RECURRING GUEST STAR RECURRING PRICIPAL GUEST STAR GUEST STAR GUEST STAR GUEST STAR GUEST STAR GUEST STAR CO-STAR CO-STAR CO-STAR
Victor Nelli Russell Fine Albert Alarr Guy Ferland Steven Surjik Millicent Shelton Guy Ferland Nelson McCormick Todd Pellegrino Tom Verica Conal O’Brien Scott Winat
SUPPORTING SUPPORTING SUPPORTING LEAD LEAD LEAD
Spike Lee Diablo Cody Ralph Hemecker Faythallegra Claude Michael Keusch Amir Valinia
Film Oldboy Paradise Midnight Bayou The Way Home Flight of Fury Jump Out Boys
*Extended résumé available at: www.cierapayton.com Actress Ciera Payton on Social Media: @CieraPayton
@callmececee
www.facebook.com/ActressCieraPayton
Press Kit Created By Toni L. Rousell Public Relations Manager & Director of Publicity TLR Publicity & PR
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