Tenaya Cleveland was born in Hawaii, and grew up in California. As a child, she sang in the Malcolm X Jazz Chorus (led by jazz pianist Dick Whittington, who enlisted jazz greats such as Bobby Hutcherson, Mary Stallings and Richie Cole to play & sing with the kids at concerts). At 10, she made her public acting debut as "The Kid" in the play "Bleacher Bums". After years of acting in theater, background work and small independent films, she landed a small role on HBO's acclaim…
