Aleyse Shannon
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Aleyse Shannon (born May 16, 1996) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Kris Waterson in the 2019 remake of '' Black Christmas'', as Breanna Casey in '' Leverage: Redemption'' and as Jada Shields in 2018's ''
Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...
'' reboot.


Early life and education

Shannon was born in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
and raised in
Stafford, Virginia Stafford, also known as Stafford Courthouse, is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Stafford County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,370 as of the 2020 census. It lies north of Fredericksburg, approximately sout ...
. Her father,
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
Master Sergeant A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries. Israel Defense Forces The (abbreviated "", master sergeant) is a non-commissioned officer () rank in the Israel Defense Force ...
Kenneth "Ken" Shannon is White and her mother, Ramona Davis, is Black. She graduated from Colonial Forge High School in 2014 and was actively involved with the school's drama program. Her first role came with a mandatory part in an eighth-grade play. Afterwards, she developed a strong interest in drama, later enrolling at
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
and graduating in 2018 from the School of Drama. During her time at Carnegie, Shannon lived in the Shadyside neighborhood of
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
.


Career

In 2018, Shannon made her television debut in the fantasy drama series ''
Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...
'', portraying Jada Shields. In 2019, Shannon starred as Kris Waterson in a second reboot of ''Black Christmas'', a contemporary interpretation of the 1974 horror cult classic directed by
Sophia Takal Sophia Takal is an American actress, writer and director, perhaps best known for her work in independent features such as '' All the Light in the Sky'', ''Supporting Characters'' and '' Gabi on the Roof in July''. ''Filmmaker'' magazine named Taka ...
and produced by
Blumhouse Productions Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Blumhouse is known mainly fo ...
. Shannon has stated that the film was her first major shoot. She had not seen the original films prior, saying of eventually watching the original, "It was the first thing I did after shooting the movie. I'm one of those people that's like, I can't watch the old one while shooting the new one, I'm just going to feel inadequate. I fought it off for a bit, but I watched it and loved it. It was good..." When ''Leverage: Redemption'', an
Amazon Freevee Amazon Freevee (stylized as freevee and fv, also shortened as Freevee, formerly known as IMDb Freedive and IMDb TV, and sometimes spelled FV) is an American Free ad-supported streaming television, ad-supported video on demand, video-on-demand ( ...
continuation of the 2008
TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
TV series '' Leverage'', was announced in 2020, it was revealed that a main character from the original series, Alec Hardison (
Aldis Hodge Aldis Alexander Basil Hodge (born September 20, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Alec Hardison in the TNT series '' Leverage'', MC Ren in the 2015 biopic ''Straight Outta Compton'', Levi Jackson in the 2016 film ''Hidden ...
), would be reduced to a supporting role, with Hodge seeking to focus on other projects. It was subsequently reported that Shannon would be cast as Breanna Casey, a hacker and the younger foster sister of Hardison, who would effectively replace him in the primary cast. Aside from her film and television career, Shannon continues to act in plays. In 2023, she performed in Thomas Bradshaw's rendition of ''
The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...
'', first written by
Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...
in 1895.


Personal life

Shannon identifies as
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
.


Filmography


Stage


Recognition and awards


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon, Aleyse Living people 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses 1996 births American queer actresses Carnegie Mellon University alumni People from Stafford, Virginia Actresses from Dallas