Shareena Clanton is an Australian film, television and theatre actress. She is known for her role as Doreen Anderson in the television drama series '' Wentworth'' (2013–2017).

Early life and education

Clanton was born in Perth, Western Australia. She is of Wangkatha, Yamatji,

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

, and Gidja descent through her mother and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, Blackfoot and

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

descent through her father. She first studied an Aboriginal Theatre course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), before being accepted into the full-time acting course at WAAPA, from which she graduated in 2010.

Career

In 2009, before graduating from WAAPA, Clanton had her feature film debut playing Leah in the comedy '' Stone Bros.'', before being a main cast member in the TV series '' Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth'' in 2011. In theatre, she starred in a main stage performance for the first time in the production of Alan Ayckbourn's '' My Wonderful Day'' at the

Ensemble Theatre The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales. History It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first perfor ...

in Sydney in 2011. This was followed by playing Adrianna in a season of ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play ...

'' and Ariel in ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' with the Shakespeare WA. Clanton has starred in multiple television series, including ''

Redfern Now ''Redfern Now'' is an Australian drama television series featuring the lives of Aboriginal Australian families living in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, Sydney, that first aired on ABC1 in 2012. A second season followed in 2013, and the ser ...

'' (1 episode, 2012) and '' Wentworth'' (2013–2017), where she was the youngest member of the main cast. In 2021 Clanton was announced to appear as Sheila Canning 2 in the soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

''. Prior to her first on-screen appearance on the show, Clanton made public her displeasure about working on the show due to racism. According to Clanton, an unnamed cast member taunted her about her ethnicities twice and was not only defended by another cast member, but Clanton's rebuke of the actor resulted in Clanton being told she made the other cast members "uncomfortable". In the weeks that followed, Fremantle Australia began an investigation into these allegations, and at the same time, former cast members Sharon Johal, Meyne Wyatt, Remy Hii, Menik Gooneratne, and Sachin Joab also came forward with allegations of racism. The investigation into the racism scandal was concluded in late 2021, but the findings were not made public. She appeared as Valerie in seven episodes of '' Joe vs. Carole'' in 2022. Also in 2022, Clanton voiced the character of Deb in the animated series ''Childish Deano''. In 2023, she plays Ruby, a ranger who becomes the main character's friend, in the award-winning miniseries '' The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart'' on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. In 2024, Clanton appeared in the second season of '' The Twelve'' on Foxtel. She was later named as part of the cast for 2025 Stan series ''Invisible Boys.''

Other activities

In February 2018 Clanton appeared on an episode of the ABC Television show Q+A, where she said Indigenous voices deserved a place in parliament.

Recognition and awards

*2011: Nominated, Sydney Theatre Award for Best Newcomer, for '' My Wonderful Day'' *2012: Nominated,

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

, for her role in ''

Filmography

Film

Television

Other appearances

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clanton, Shareena Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian actresses Actresses from Perth, Western Australia Australian film actresses Australian people of African-American descent Australian television actresses Indigenous Australian actresses Noongar people People of Cherokee descent People of Blackfoot descent Television controversies in Australia