Kimisha Renee Davis

Kimisha Renee Davis is a Los Angeles based writer, director, and cinematographer. She is a film student on scholarship, and on the Dean's List, majoring in cinematography and minoring in directing at Art Center College of Design. Additionally, she recently finished a directing fellowship at Sundance Institute Collab. Kimisha is committed to telling diverse stories, especially ones that: are female centric, feature BIPOC characters, and explore the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. She is all about positive vibes and she loves creating dynamic visual storytelling through: screenwriting, detailed character development, selecting and manipulating lenses and cameras, composition, color design, and painting with light. Thus bringing beautiful stories to life. Kimisha Renee Davis was born in Santa Clara, California, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. At a young age she played piano, violin, and viola, and was involved in visual and performing arts. Her passion for entertaining escalated in 2nd grade when she was involved in Primary Players, a performing children's choir. Kimisha continued to sing in many choirs throughout grade school and discovered acting in the 9th grade when she performed in her 1st musical, "Damn Yankees", at Indian Hill High School. In the 10th grade, she began her training at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and triple majored in acting, vocal music, and musical theater. Triple majoring was unheard of, but because Kimisha was determined, the school allowed it. In her first couple of months, she received an ensemble role in her first play; Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors". But after a month into rehearsal, teachers saw her talent, commitment, and potential thus she was asked to play the supporting lead role, as the part of the young man, Dromio of Ephesus. During her tenure at SCPA, she performed numerous plays and musicals not only in SCPA's theaters, but also professionally throughout the city of Cincinnati. Kimisha additionally performed in stage readings, was a member of Drama Ensemble, a highly selective acting troupe, and also sung in two award winning traveling singing ensembles; the male and female mixed choir of Chorale, and the female A Capella group; Baby Grands. It was no surprise that by senior year Kimisha had the opportunity to perform with the Cincinnati Black Theatre Company, as Lady in Green, in "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf", by Ntozake Shange. Not only was the play sold out every night, but Kimisha was featured on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquire and featured in the Cincinnati Herald for her outstanding performance. Additionally, in her senior year, she was chosen to represent SCPA at the International Thespian Society's drama competition for Ohio. She won 1st place in monologue, and competed in nationals in Nebraska, and won 1st place yet again. By this time Kimisha was certain that she wanted to pursue acting in college. She auditioned for many prestigious drama schools and after careful thought and consideration she chose to train at Carnegie Mellon University, the oldest Ivy League school for theatre in the United States. At CMU she loved the conservatory style training and discovered her passion for acting on camera. After much thought and consideration, Kimisha left CMU and went on to book the part of Kelly in the feature film "Adventureland", written and directed by Gregg Mattola. Cast mates included Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Ryan Reynolds. While on set of the summer blockbuster comedy, she realized that acting wasn't her only passion. She spent as much time as she could playing with costumes in the wardrobe trailer. After wrapping the film, she attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and majored in fashion design. At FIDM, Kimisha won the exclusive Cotton Inc. Scholarship Award for designing and creating her very first couture evening dress. She later went on to study music and taught herself how to DJ. She majored in Electronic Music DJing at Garnish Music Production School and she received a certificate. Kimisha is a storyteller: she has evolved from an actress, fashion designer, and musician, to a filmmaker behind the lens. She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate, with a 4.0 in audio and video production from Cincinnati State. Additionally, Kimisha is continuing her film education and is on scholarship, and on the Dean's List, majoring in cinematography and minoring in directing at Art Center College of Design. She was recently awarded a scholarship to attend Sundance Institute Collab. She was selected to attend Sony EDU. She was sponsored by Panavision and RED Digital Cinema to attend the Cinematography Intensive for Women at American Film Institute. Additionally, she was named 'A Rising Star in Cinematography' by Anton Bauer. Kimisha hires at least 50% women, BIPOC, LGBTQ, and disabled cast and crew members on every project. She champions inclusion riders to hire diverse film production employees in leadership positions above and below the line. Additionally, her sets are environmentally friendly to end climate change. She especially enjoys action, adventure, fantasy, science fiction, and super hero films. She is committed to creating ones that have super heroines, BIPOC characters, and Afrofuturistic themes in the forefront. At the moment, Kimisha is recently finished a directing fellowship at Sundance Institute Collab and she is in development on a feature film and television series.