Chandler Kinney (born August 3, 2000) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Willa in Disney's ''Z-O-M-B-I-E-S'' franchise and Tabby Haworthe in '' Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin''.

Early life and education

Kinney was born on August 3, 2000, in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. She started dancing when she was three, and is trained in tap,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

. She studied dance at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. She began acting at age nine. She also has a black belt in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

. Kinney and her mother founded the organization Chandler's Friends, which helps disadvantaged youths. She was

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

, and took a

gap year A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is a period of time when students take a break from their studies, usually after completing high school or before beginning graduate school. During this time, students engage in a variety of educatio ...

before she studied at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Career

Throughout her early acting career, she had guest roles on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

shows '' Girl Meets World'' and '' K.C. Undercover'', and the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

show ''

The Haunted Hathaways ''The Haunted Hathaways'' is an American television supernatural sitcom that began airing on Nickelodeon July 13, 2013, and ended on March 5, 2015. It tells the story of a single mother and her two daughters who move into a home occupied by thre ...

''. Her first major role was as Catherine Dillman in ''

Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street ''Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street'' is an American live action, magic realism family television series created by David Anaxagoras that was initially streamed for two seasons (2014–16) on Amazon Prime Video. The series, follows young G ...

''. She then went on to star as Riana Murtaugh in ''Lethal Weapon''. In 2020, she joined the ''Z-O-M-B-I-E-S'' franchise as Willa, a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

who first appears in ''

Zombies 2 ''Zombies 2'' is a 2020 American musical and dance Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on Disney Channel on February 14, 2020. A sequel to the 2018 Disney Channel Original Movie '' Zombies'', the film stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnel ...

''. In July 2021, Kinney was announced to be starring in '' Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin'', a 2022 spinoff of ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery teen drama television series created by I. Marlene King, which aired on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform from June 8, 2010 to June 27, 2017, based on the novel series Pretty Little L ...

''. It was announced she would be playing Tabby, an aspiring director and horror movie buff.

''Dancing with the Stars''

On September 4, 2024, Kinney was announced as a contestant on season 33 of ''Dancing with the Stars''. She was partnered with professional dancer

Brandon Armstrong Brandon Simone Armstrong (born June 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. Born in San Francisco, California, he played college basketball for the Pepperdine Waves and was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd ov ...

. Earning both the highest cumulative points based on judges' scores and the first perfect score of the season, Kinney and Armstrong are the first Black partnership in ''Dancing with the Stars'' history to advance to the finale. Their freestyle routine was the show's first performance to feature an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

of all-Black dancers. Kinney and Armstrong ultimately finished in third place on November 26, 2024, behind runners-up Ilona Maher and her partner Alan Bersten, and winners Joey Graziadei and his partner Jenna Johnson.

Filmography

Film

Short films

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinney, Chandler 2000 births Living people 21st-century African-American actresses Actresses from Sacramento, California African-American child actresses American child actresses American television actresses American voice actresses