Chloe Frances Dykstra (born September 15, 1988) is an American

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subcultur ...

er, model and actress. She produced and co-hosted the web series ''Just Cos'' for the

Nerdist Industries Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium con ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

channel and is a cast member of the SYFY show ''

Heroes of Cosplay ''Heroes of Cosplay'' is a 2013 Syfy channel reality television show co-produced by Mark Cronin, Courtland Cox and Dave Caplan of 51 Minds Entertainment. The show's first season's six episodes follows nine cast members as they compete in cosplay e ...

''. She is also a freelance game journalist for several websites. In June 2018, Dykstra received media attention following an article she wrote on

Medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

detailing her alleged abuse from a former partner, subsequently identified as

Chris Hardwick Christopher Ryan Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts '' Talking Dead'', an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series '' ...

Early life

Dykstra was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and is the daughter of American

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual w ...

artist

John Dykstra John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. (; born June 3, 1947) is an American special effects artist, pioneer in the development of the use of computers in filmmaking and recipient of three Academy Awards, among many other awards and prizes. He was one of ...

Cosplay

Long before joining the team of cosplayers in ''

'', Chloe Dykstra made and exhibited a variety of cosplay characters. Characters include video game characters such as Lara Croft from ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...

'', Aela the Huntress from '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'', GLaDOS from '' Portal'' and Elizabeth from ''

BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 pla ...

''. She has also cosplayed as a

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era ...

avatar from ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before bein ...

'', '' Doctor Who''s

Clara Oswald Clara Oswald is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. She was created by series producer Steven Moffat and portrayed by Jenna Coleman. Clara was introduced in the seventh series as a new travel ...

, and fem 11th Doctor. She also played the role of

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as ...

in a YouTube video by Max Landis called " Wrestling Isn't Wrestling". Dykstra produced and co-hosted the

cosplay focused web series ''Just Cos''. Dykstra was featured in a ''

Daily Dot ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometow ...

'' article for her parody photo essay of Me In My Place

pin-up A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion mode ...

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

photos.

Acting

Dykstra appeared in the 2002 film '' Spider-Man'' as a passenger on a gondola, and its 2004 sequel, ''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is t ...

'' as a passenger on the train. She had her first major acting role starring as Cello Shea in the film ''Diminuendo'' opposite '' Battlestar Galactica'' star Richard Hatch. In July 2021, Dykstra played the role of Mrs. O’Hara in the music video for "Holier than Thou", a

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instru ...

cover song by the punk band Off!.

Personal life

In a June 2018 article on

, Dykstra alleged that she had been subjected to emotional and sexual abuse by a former partner for three years. She also said that, on leaving the relationship, she was blacklisted by her former partner and as a result was denied employment opportunities. Dykstra did not name her abusive former partner, but other media outlets used descriptive and timeline information from her article to conclude that it was

, including the abuser being nearly 20 years her senior (Hardwick is nearly 17 years older). Hardwick has denied Dykstra's allegations, saying, "Our three year relationship was not perfect—we were ultimately not a good match and argued—even shouted at each other—but I loved her, and did my best to uplift and support her as a partner and companion in any way and at no time did I sexually assault her." Three former girlfriends and his wife all say that Hardwick has never been abusive with them. On July 26, 2018, Dykstra issued a statement via her Twitter account that she now intended to move on with her life.NOTE: Full statement attached to the tweet as an image. In that statement she also noted that she had declined to participate in the investigation being undertaken by the organization that had employed her alleged abuser, explaining in a later tweet that participating in that investigation would have exposed her to risk(s) beyond her control. As before, she declined to name either her alleged abuser or the organization for which he worked, but reports from the entertainment news media on Dykstra's statement also noted that Chris Hardwick had been reinstated as the host of AMC's ''

Talking Dead ''Talking Dead'' is a live television aftershow in which host Chris Hardwick discusses episodes of the AMC television series '' The Walking Dead'', '' Fear the Walking Dead'' and '' The Walking Dead: World Beyond'' with guests, including celebri ...

'' television show. "I have been adamant since I came forward with my essay that I never set out to ruin the career of the person I spoke about," Dykstra wrote. "I could have provided more details on the matter but chose not to. I have said what I wanted to say on the matter and I wish to move on with my life."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dykstra, Chloe 1988 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Female models from California American women podcasters American podcasters American television actresses Cosplayers Living people Models from Los Angeles