Kela (like “hella”) Parker is an actor, model, writer, and musician based in Los Angeles, California offering a refreshing earthiness that recalls Diane Lane, with a dash of Aubrey Plaza deadpan – plus virtuosic musical ability to boot. Whether playing her distinct “art folk” at live venues across the United States or portraying complex female characters, Kela inhabits every role with distinction.
Originally from Berkeley, California, as a singer-songwriter, Parker has performed her “art folk” across the US from the Aladdin Theatre in Portland, Oregon to Rockwood Music Hall in New York to Los Angeles’ storied Viper Room. She has a Masters of Fine Arts in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has worked as a Teaching Artist for Urban Voices Project, facilitating the partnership between UVP and Safe Place for Youth to advance the accessibility of music for youth experiencing homelessness and for artists on Skid Row.
In film, Parker has played politician Rebecca Cyprus in ‘American Guilt,’ a day trader whose life is turned upside down after a crypto crash (‘Kryptos’ – dir. Andrew Yanni), put her dialect skills to work in the witch trials of 17th century Scotland (‘The Witch Pricker and the Hare’ – dir. Brynn Mitchell, American Film Institute), and brandished a gun on a serial killer as an FBI agent in the latest true crime documentary from director Skye Borgman (streaming on Netflix Jan 2025). Parker has also voiced multiple characters for animated films (‘North’ – dir. Bente Lohne), live theatre, and commercials. In television, Parker worked as location manager on American Horror Story (Season 6) and as a radio producer for much-beloved Apple Music radio hosts including Bootsy Collins (The Bootsy Collins Show), Jenn Marino (Rock Classics with Jenn), and Kelly McCartney (Record Bin Radio). In her screenplays and nonfiction, Parker explores themes that often touch on magic realism, gender politics, and crime.
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