Biography

Kira Guloien was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where she trained as a competitive singer and dancer from an early age. Her mother enjoyed a fifty year career as a double bassist in The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and her father is a Juno Award winning Jazz Saxophonist and member of The Order of Canada. At 16, Kira was selected from a countrywide audition as a top 12 finalist on CBC TV's inaugural season of Triple Sensation. Hand picked by a celebrity panel including Garth Drabinsky, Marvin Hamlisch, Sergio Trujillo, Adrian Noble and Cynthia Dale, Kira was given the incredible opportunity to work with some of the world's finest coaches and artists, including Chita Rivera and Joel Grey, in a month-long master class in Toronto. After graduating from high school, Kira returned to Toronto to study acting at Ryerson Theatre School. She began to work professionally while she was still a student, most notably starring in Hometown at the Blyth Festival. Within weeks of completing her degree, Kira was honored to play the title role in the world premiere of Judith Thompson's Elektra in Bosnia at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In the spring of 2013, Kira began rehearsing for one of her dream jobs with Canada's leading theatrical institution, The Stratford Festival. Starring as Mrs. Walker in Tommy, she worked under the direction of the entire original Broadway creative team, including multi Tony award winning director Des McAnuff and The Who's legendary guitarist and composer, Pete Townshend. Kira received rave reviews for her performance as Tommy's mother and was described as a "masterpiece of tortured sensuality" by Toronto Star critic Richard Ouzounian. In 2015, Kira made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway cast of Doctor Zhivago- The Musical at The Broadway Theatre. Kira has since enjoyed a diverse career, spanning from musicals, to film, television and the concert stage. She was in the Pre-Broadway production of Hadestown, which went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best New Musical, Garth Drabinski's Sousatzka, starring Tony winners Victoria Clark and Judy Kaye and Theatre Calgary's The Louder We Get, directed by Emmy Award winner Lonny Price. Other highlights include: Ghost Quartet (Crow's Theatre & Eclipse), Grey Gardens (Musical Stage Co), Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life (Musical Stage Co & Outside the March), Hello Again (Artillery Collective), Nine (Podium Concert Productions), Marathon of Hope (Drayton Entertainment), Smokey Joe's Cafe (Drayton Entertainment), Damn Yankees (Drayton Entertainment), Jacob Two-Two (YPT), City of Angels (Theatre by the Bay). Her film and television credits include Jupiter's Legacy (Netflix), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Coroner (CBC), Glass Houses (The Movie Network), The Listener (CTV), A Northern Song (Forever Epic Films), Night Cries (Good Soldier Films). Kira was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical and is the recipient of the Toronto Theatre Critics Awards for Best Ensemble for 2019 & 2020, a My Entertainment World Award for Best Actress in a Musical, The Jean Chalmers Guthrie Award and The Lou Taube Memorial Award. She has performed in some of Canada's finest concert halls, including Koerner Hall, where she has shared the stage with musical theatre legend Colm Wilkinson and Des McAnuff, as well as The Winspear Center where she was guest soloist with The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Steven Reineke of The New York Pops. She is a two time guest soloist at New York's legendary supper club, Feinstein's/54 Below.
- IMDb mini biography by: Kira Guloien