Crystle Lightning
Lightning on the Femme Fatales red carpet
Born
Crystle Lea Lightning

(1981-02-05) February 5, 1981
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation(s)Recording artist, actress, DJ, Indigenous rights activist
Years active1994–present
Label1491 Nation

Crystle Lea Lightning (born February 5, 1981) is a Canadian-American film actress, musician, DJ, and hip-hop MC.

Early life

Lightning holds dual citizenship with the United States and Canada. She is the daughter of director and actress Georgina Lightning, and her brother is actor Cody Lightning. A First Nations Hobbema/Enoch Cree artist, Crystle began performing in Edmonton, Alberta, when she was 4 years old before her family relocated to Hollywood, California, when she was 9.

Film career

Lightning started acting in 1994 and has been in several films, with her most notable role portraying Lori Piestewa in Saving Jessica Lynch. She played the lead role of Jo in 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995). Since then, she has been cast in a recurring role on the daytime NBC soap Days of Our Lives, played Chloe in 2005's American Pie Presents: Band Camp, BET's The Game (2006); and in Older Than America (2008) alongside Bradley Cooper. She also voiced Jen, the girlfriend of the game's protagonist, Tommy, in the 2006 video game Prey.

At the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, she won the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for Trickster.[1]

Music career

Lightning is also an electro house DJ. Inspired by a mix performed by DJ Lady Tribe at a local Los Angeles nightspot, Lightning sought a musical apprenticeship with Christi Mills, later partnering with her mentor to form a performance crew called Ladies of the House. They perform regularly at Los Angeles venues, as well as throughout the United States.

LightningCloud

Moving from the DJ booth to the center-stage mic, Lightning paired up with MC RedCloud to form the hip-hop group LightningCloud. The pair released their self-titled debut, LightningCloud, in 2012 with RedCloud's long-term musical collaborator, DJ Hydroe. Sam Slovik of L.A. Weekly called the group, "a near-earth object inventing new realms of the Electro-House-Hip-Hop revolution on the planet. Urban futurist[s], MC RedCloud and Crystle Lightning are L.A.'s subterranean Bonnie and Clyde." The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards (APCMA) honored the group with recognition for Best Hip Hop Album in November 2012.[2] In 2013, LightningCloud won the "Who's Next: Battle for the Best" contest on Power 106.[3] As winners, LightningCloud received a cash prize, a performance with Kendrick Lamar, and the honor of representing west coast hip hop against Hot 97's Brooklyn-based east coast representative, Radamiz, in a freestyle battle in Austin, Texas, on March 15, 2013. After winning that MC battle,[4] LightningCloud received the opportunity to work with Timbaland in the recording studio.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1994 The Last Chance Detectives: Mystery Lights of Navajo Mesa Winnie
1995 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up Jo
1995 Tecumseh: The Last Warrior Star Watcher
1995 The Last Chance Detectives: Legend of the Desert Bigfoot Winnie
1996 The Last Chance Detectives: Escape from Fire Lake Winnie
2003 Saving Jessica Lynch Pfc Lori Piestewa
2005 American Pie Presents: Band Camp Chloe
2008 Older Than America Diane
2014 Death Factory
2015 Tamales and Gumbo Gloria's Cousin

Short film

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Yellow Wooden Ring Velma Blea
1998 6/29 Paula Cooper
2010 Sardines Tiffany
2010 The Ricochet Misty
2010 Search for the World's Best Indian Taco Rose
2014 Unmatched Candi

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1995 ABC Weekend Special:The Secret of Lizard Woman Keah Nez 1 episode
2001 Touched by an Angel Anna Hernandez Episode: "Mi Familia"
2006 The Game Scantily Clad Girl #2 Episode: "Mi Casa Es Su Casa"
2006 Live! From the Future Herself
2008 Days of Our Lives Sasha Episode: #1.10981
2009 Tease Tina 3 Episodes
2012 Femme Fatales Candela Episode: "Hell Hath No Furies"
2013 Southland Tia Episode: "The Felix Paradox"
2020 Trickster Maggie
2021 Hudson & Rex Kiera Laford Episode: "Blood on the Tracks"
2022 Ghosts Shiki Recurring role
2023 Lawmen: Bass Reeves Nita

Video games

Year Title Role
2006 Prey Jen/Radio Caller #2 (voice)

References

  1. ↑ Brent Furdyk, "Television Nominees Announced For 2021 Canadian Screen Awards, 'Schitt's Creek' Leads The Pack With 21 Nominations". ET Canada, March 30, 2021.
  2. ↑ "2012 Winners". Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2013-03-15. (November 1, 2012). APCMA, And the Winners Are. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
  3. ↑ "(February 25, 2012). Who's Next @ 2. Retrieved 2012-03-12". Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ "(March 19, 2013). LightningCloud Win Best of the Best at South By Southwest. Retrieved 2013-03-18". Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
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