Kiki Layne

Kiki Layne is an actress known for her breakthrough performance in the role of "Tish Rivers" in the 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk. The film is a follow up to Barry Jenkins' Academy Award winning film Moonlight.

Layne is from Cincinnati, Ohio. She began her career attending a performing-arts school in Cincinnati, where she took the flute, then French horn and the trumpet. She later attended DePaul University in Chicago to study acting. She appeared in a short film titled Veracity and an episode of Chicago Med*.

After graduating she moved to LA where she landed her breakout role in the Barry Jenkins film If Beale Street Could Talk. Beale Street follows a young African-American woman who seeks to clear the name of her wrongly charged lover (Stephan James) and prove his innocence before the birth of their child.The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 14, 2018, by Annapurna Pictures. It was praised for the acting, Jenkins's screenplay and direction, the cinematography, and the musical score.

Layne starred in the film adaptation of Richard Wright's 1940 novel "Native Son." The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was directed by Rashid Johnson with a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks. She starred alongside Ashton Sanders, Sanaa Latham, Margaret Qualley and Nick Robinson. The film premiered on HBO in April 2019.