Photograph courtesy Kiah Clingman
This has undoubtedly been Kiah Clingman’s year. Earlier this fall, the Cincinnati native joined the cast for the third season of Hulu’s hit legal drama Reasonable Doubt, and her short film Thomasville was nominated for Best Drama at the Cindependent Film Festival. Of course, keen Cincinnati Magazine readers know Clingman from Color Book, an award-winning work that highlighted the importance of including actors with disabilities in the film industry.
In September, Clingman returned to her acting roots on Reasonable Doubt, which follows successful criminal defense lawyer Jax Stewart (Emayatzy Corinealdi) at an upscale law firm in Los Angeles. Clingman joins season three as Kristin, the supportive sister of former child star Ozzie Edwards (Kyle Bary). An only child herself, Clingman “always knew” she wanted to act, jumping at any chance to find a way onto a stage. “As an only child with my head always stuck in books, it was inevitable that I would develop a very wild imagination,” she says; this creativity ultimately landed her onstage at Howard University.
Photograph courtesy Kiah Clingman
After her dad was diagnosed with ALS in 2013, Clingman felt inspired to pursue her creative passions further. “In between studies, I became known as ‘Kiah the Actress’ because I was always the person my film student friends would call when they needed an actress for their project,” she says, adding that during her time at Howard she acted in more than 20 short films and one web series called Doing It Wrong that premiered as BLACK & SEXY TV’s first college series. After graduating college (with a 3.97 GPA, no less), Clingman’s creative career took off: “Many opportunities came from that experience, even after graduation. And those opportunities eventually led me to film production.”
As to how Clingman ended up on Hulu, Clingman says it’s one of her favorite stories. “Erica Arvold and Dustin Presley, the casting directors for Reasonable Doubt, were part of the casting team for Color Book. [Dustin] thought I would be perfect for the “nerdy-cute” role of Kristin,” she says. “Landing the role meant I was able to reunite with Terri J. Vaughn (director) and Brandee Evans (castmate), who were also part of Color Book,” completing one of many “full circle moments” the creative has experienced in 2025.
Looking ahead, Clingman says she’s excited to continue her multi-hyphenate career as both actor and filmmaker. (“I can’t say that I have a preference between acting and filmmaking; I genuinely love both. I love bringing authenticity to characters and their stories on screen just as much as I love writing and directing those stories.”) She has several projects in the pipeline, including the upcoming dark comedy Her Pretty Vagina (“my solo directorial debut that I also wrote”) that explores women’s health issues and is based on her real life struggles with endometriosis and HPV. Clingman is also developing her Strong Legs script for production in spring 2026; this film explores caregiving with patients who have ALS, a story she’s well-equipped to tell.
“I love that my story is still evolving,” Clingman muses, adding that she wouldn’t mind being the lead on a hit show or star in a box-office hit “while also directing for television and writing my first feature film to direct. The sky is truly the limit, and I’m going to keep working every day to make sure I’m adding even more texture to this beautiful path.”
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