- Born
- Shareena Clanton is a film, theatre and television actress with a strong advocacy for human rights and indigenous affairs. Clanton is best known for her roles on Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth (2011), Nowhere Boys (2013), Rosehaven (2016), The Cry (2018), and as the character of Doreen Anderson on the award winning Australian drama Wentworth (2013) . Clanton played her role for five years before leaving the show to focus on her passion for indigenous rights.
Clanton holds a First Class Honours for a Bachelor of Applied Sciences (Indigenous Research Methodologies) from Curtin University, with a particular focus on making indigenous women more visible and accurately represented in the film and television industry.
Clanton has been a cultural consultant on major television productions in Australia and continues to encourage indigenous women to be global citizens.
- IMDb mini biography by: CTM
- Shareena Clanton is a proud Wongatha/Yamatji and Noongar/Gitja woman from Wadjak Noongar Boodja (Perth). Her father is Etowah Cherokee, Blackfoot and African-American from Alabama. Her grandmother's father left the Cherokee reservation when he was younger and her grandfather's mother (who is Blackfoot) used to have to walk five paces behind her husband in public due to her darker skin. Her last name Clanton is of French origins due to her great-grandfather's paternal heritage and slavery from the French. Her mother's last name "Yarran" is a traditional name from Balladong country in Western Australia.
- Shareena is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
- Nominated for a 2013 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award in the Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama category for her role as Lilly in Redfern Now (2012).
- To be an ally you must be willing to listen, truly listen. As an ally I will challenge everything you think you know about Indigenous people. Whether consciously aware of a bias or not, you must be willing to be brutally honest about your individual perception and relationship towards Indigenous people
- Everything we do is about building and maintaining our legacy. Our youth are the next generation of game changers and as a result, they are aware of their responsibility to uphold and maintain the ancestral fires of our Ancestors. We are running out of time. Our people are dying at astronomical rates. What our youth are realising is that to impact the mainstream sector, to challenge the grand narrative and to help build upon our legacy you must get your qualifications. This education helps to shift the paradigm and create the opportunity to not only obliterate archaic narratives but also help platform the voices of our people.
- There's still an insurmountable amount of mysticism and tokenism surrounding Indigenous people and culture. A lot of it stems from misinformation and misconstrued, or rather ignorant ideas about what Indigenous culture and people represent. Aboriginal people are not here to be your token Indigenous friend or colleague. We are human beings and should not have to justify or plead for our own humanity. We are not here to do the emotional labor for you. We are not here to challenge and deconstruct your ignorance only to have you revert to your privilege and rage with your old fears and prejudices. We do not exist to cater towards your own fragility or the micro aggression you uphold to exclude and separate Indigenous people, or people of colour, from the mainstream narrative and conversation.
- Your awareness to our truth will help shift the perspective lens and change the landscape. Only through education and awareness will you be able to deconstruct this elitism and power for yourself and within the wider community.
To be an ally is to learn to stand beside me, not in front of me. - I see an empowered and unapologetic activism that helps to raise the collective consciousness. We are not that different from our predecessors and are only building upon their activism. It's imperative we maintain the resistance and are aware of our responsibility to never allow a level of complacency to manifest in our ongoing fight for equality, justice and truth. We cannot afford to settle because the next generation is watching
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