Hayley Kiyoko

Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft (born April 3, 1991) is a Japanese-American actress, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Velma Dinkley in Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, as well as Stella Yamada in the Disney Channel film Lemonade Mouth. In February 2015 she released her debut solo EP.

She currently portrays the role of Raven Ramirez in CSI: Cyber and has a main role in the spin-off web series of The Fosters.

She played the role of Aja in the live-action film adaptation Jem and the Holograms (2015).

Early life[]

Kiyoko was born on April 3rd, 1991, in Los Angeles, California, to actor/comedian Jamie Alcroft and figure skater Sarah Kawahara. Her mother is from Canada and is of Japanese ancestry and her father is from Ohio and has English and Scottish ancestry.

At age 5, she appeared in a print ad for KnowledgeWare and in other national commercials. Nickelodeon spotted her at the Culver City Ice Rink and she ended up featured in and narrating a short piece about children in sports called "I'm Hayley, a Skater".

Insisting on drum lessons at age 6, she was writing drum charts for new releases and selling them in a local music store by age 11. She was elected President of her middle school and high school freshman classes school and Vice-president in her senior year. She was appointed Commissioner of Entertainment in her sophomore year and Commissioner of Pep Rallies in her junior year.

She created and choreographed "The Agoura High Step Team" that has now been faculty-approved as a school club under her direction. The team placed 3rd at a Nationals competition in 2005. Upon graduation, she was accepted into Clive Davis School of Recorded Music at New York University but initially deferred until eventually declining due to career opportunities.

Kiyoko continued to hone her skills in middle school plays and in 7th grade she got a commercial agent and booked her first audition, claiming acting was always something she did on the side to make money for college and music equipment.

Acting career[]

Hayley's first time on television was voice-acting for Cartoon Network. In 2007, Kiyoko had guest-voiced Jake Long, a character in American Dragon.

After graduating high school in 2009, Kiyoko booked her first big movie, starring as Velma Dinkley in Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins. The TV movie premiered on September 13rd, 2009, and was a in the Jem and the Holograms movie.]]huge success, bringing in 6.1 million viewers and making it the most-watched program in Cartoon Network's history. She returned for the same role in the sequel, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, which premiered on October 16th, 2010. The sequel drew 3.4 million viewers. Kiyoko also guest-starred in four episodes of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, which first aired between March and May 2010. She played the short lived, yet popular role of Stevie Nichols, an evil wizard.

Kiyoko began work on the Disney Channel movie Lemonade Mouth in 2010. She starred as rebellious teenager Stella Yamada. The film premiered on April 15th, 2011, and was watched by a total of 7.1 million viewers. Kiyoko guest-starred in one episode of Disney XD's Zeke and Luther titled "Skater Girl Island", which aired May 23rd, 2011. She played a skater named Suzi Vandelintzer.

In February 2012, Kiyoko filmed Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, a Lifetime TV movie remake of the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon. She played the small role of Helen.

Hayley Kiyoko - 10 — Kiyoko's road crew-like ending credits sticker from the *Jem and the Holograms* film.

Kiyoko became a recurring character on ABC Family's The Fosters as an ex-cyberbully in Callie's all-girls group home.

In 2015, Kiyoko landed the role of Aja on the musical, fantasy, adventure film, Jem and the Holograms.

She currently portrays the role of Raven Ramirez in CSI: Cyber, which premiered on CBS March 4th, 2015.

Music career[]

In 2007, Kiyoko was approached by former pop-star Vitamin C to join an all-girl singing and dancing group called The Stunners. Six months after forming, the group signed with Columbia Records and released a single titled "Bubblegum" to iTunes along with the official video for the single and also contributed a song to the iCarly soundtrack. In November of the same year, Kiyoko created the garage band Hede and released five songs on MySpace and a music video for "Warehouse". The band performed locally on several occasions and split in 2008.

In 2009, The Stunners left Columbia Records, signed a production deal with Lionsgate Entertainment and shot a music video for their promo single "We Got It" which was released on February 22nd, 2010.

With The Stunners, she signed to Universal Republic Records in 2010 and released their first single "Dancin' Around the Truth" to iTunes as well as Top 40 radio stations. The music video premiered June 2nd, just before the group was announced as an opening act on Justin Bieber's My World Tour. The group split in 2011.

Kiyoko released an EP titled A Belle to Remember on March 12th, 2013. She started writing new music in London with British producer James Flannigan. The five-song EP, This Side of Paradise, was released on February 3rd, 2015. The music video for her song "Girls Like Girls", starring Stefanie Scott, was released on June 24th, 2015. After co-directing its music video, Kiyoko assumed full directorial responsibilities for the "Cliff's Edge" music video, which was released on YouTube on November 4th, 2015. In 2016, she released the single "Gravel to Tempo" and its music video from her next EP, Citrine. The EP was released on September 30, 2016 via EMPIRE and Atlantic. Her third fully self-directed music video for the song "One Bad Night" was premiered via Vice on October 11, 2016 in order to promote the EP. A new single called "Sleepover" was released alongside its music video on March 2, 2017 via BuzzFeed.

Personal life[]

Kiyoko's hobbies include hiking, ice skating, teaching dance and taking karate. She performed as an ice skater in the 2007 film Blades of Glory and in the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, both of which were choreographed by her mother.

Gallery[]

External links[]

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Hayley Kiyoko. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the Jem Wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.