Crystle Lightning

Crystle Lightning is a Canadian actress and musician of First Nations descent. An Enoch Cree artist, she is recognized for her work across film, television, voice acting, and the music industry.

Lightning began her acting career in 1994. Among her notable early roles, she portrayed Jo as the lead in the 1995 film 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up and appeared as Lori Piestewa in Saving Jessica Lynch. She subsequently expanded her television and film credits with a recurring role on the daytime NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, as well as appearances in The Game (2006), a spinoff of Girlfriends broadcast across The CW, BET, and Paramount+.

Her film credits also include playing Chloe in the 2005 release American Pie Presents: Band Camp and featuring alongside Bradley Cooper in the 2008 film Older Than America. In addition to her on-screen acting, Lightning worked in video game voice performance, lending her voice to the character Jen, the girlfriend of the protagonist Tommy, in the 2006 video game Prey. For her work in television, she won the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for Trickster at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021.

Beyond acting, Lightning operates as an electro house DJ. Her interest in DJing was inspired by a mix performed by DJ Lady Tribe at a Los Angeles nightspot, leading her to pursue a musical apprenticeship under Christi Mills. Lightning and Mills later partnered to form a performance crew called Ladies of the House, performing regularly across Los Angeles venues and throughout the United States.

Lightning further expanded her musical work by transitioning to center-stage vocals, pairing with MC RedCloud to establish the hip-hop duo LightningCloud. Working alongside long-term collaborator DJ Hydroe, the group released their self-titled debut album, LightningCloud, in 2012. L.A. Weekly writer Sam Slovik described the group as creating new realms within electro-house-hip-hop. In November 2012, the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards recognized the group with the award for Best Hip Hop Album.

In 2013, LightningCloud won Power 106's "Who's Next: Battle for the Best" contest. As part of their victory, the group earned a cash prize, a performance alongside Kendrick Lamar, and represented west coast hip hop in a freestyle battle against east coast representative Radamiz in Austin, Texas, on March 15, 2013. Following their win in that MC battle, LightningCloud earned the opportunity to work in the recording studio with producer Timbaland.