The first time I met Kimberly-Sue Murray, I was intimidated by her. She had an upfront, direct, unapologetic confidence and demeanour – these qualities flowed out of her with ease, qualities I so admired and respected.
First, the facts: Kim is an actor. She is French-Canadian, her hometown is in the Gaspé, Quebec. She is 1/2 of a production company called Tandem Films. She wrote and produced a pilot for a webseries called ‘Werewoman’. She is an alumna of the prestigious Canadian Film Centre’s Actors Conservatory. You can catch her in V-Wars (Netflix), Shadowhunters (Freeform/Netflix), and as the lead on the upcoming straight-to-series TV show premiering the Spring.
Kim approaches life deliberately, with a strong will and gusto. She is intelligent, dedicated, and hard-working . She is warm-hearted, and comfortable in her skin. She shows up for her friends and colleagues. And, no matter how busy or stressed she is, she always has time… for a laugh, or cry, or heart to heart, or 5-minute dance party.
Kim’s aesthetic sense is sharp and unrelenting (evident with a quick scroll of her instagram). She’s constantly rooting a Jade or a Pothas plant, and her favourite part of dinner is laying out a maison-place of fresh ingredients, in beautiful little ramekins and bowls, before making a meal. She is a soul-searcher: she is not afraid of silence or of taking time to look inward, and she has taught me so much about listening, respecting, and honouring oneself.
Kim is a lover of people. She takes pride in her work. She understands that actors have the honour of telling stories, that in their essence, explore what it means to be human. She is slow to judge the characters she plays, and fast to have compassion and empathy for them. Kim is ever growing and evolving as both human and artist. Her thirst for self-understanding and knowledge, combined with her love of life, is to her credit as an actor and the roles she plays.
bio by Camille Stopps, best friend and actor
Kimberly-Sue Murray – This is my dog Patate. Yes, that’s French for Potato. He’s truly the best. He travels with me and loves to go on adventures. He’s a little Energizer Bunny, but he also loves cuddles. Every day, I wake up to him staring at me, he stretches and slowly crawls to my face where I let him like my nose. I take him out for a walk while I drink my coffee. He’s not into dog parks, but loves chasing squirrels. He’s also a napper like me, so we get along great!Kimberly-Sue Murray – Friendship is one of the most important part of my life. These girls got me through the worst. We’re on this roller coaster of life together. We hang out, get crafty, we eat, drink, laugh and we hold each other up. Love you gals!My sister and I hiked to Machu Picchu last year and I’ve been hooked ever since. Whenever I can, I go hiking. This is me on the West Coast Trail. I did it with my siblings in August and it was the most challenging and fulfilling experience.Home. A 22 hour drive from Toronto. The Gaspésie is a peninsula in Eastern Quebec, just above New Brunswick. I was born and raised a 5 minute drive from the ocean. I grew up running up and down this beach. I go home once or twice a year and my family and I take the dogs out for walks. This is my baby sister and I last summer.9 years ago, I moved to Toronto from Montreal and couldn’t afford doing self-tape auditions at local studios, so I invested in a camera and started doing my own self-tapes. Then I was taping my friend, and my friends friends. Soon, word got around and agents were sending me their clients. My boyfriend convinced me to make it an official business, so I did. By far the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I managed to create a wonderful community of actors, who care and support each other. I do tapes whenever I’m not working. I’m personally invested in everyone’s success and professional growth.Kimberly-Sue Murray – I’m currently doing performance capture for a really cool video game. I can’t talk about it yet, but this is me at work. We have these black suits with sensors on them to capture movement, a helmet with a camera at the front to capture facial movement and a microphone at the top to record voice. It’s a mix of film and theatre, which I love. It’s physical, emotional and so fulfilling. It’s a real workout.Photography is a huge passion of mine. If I’m not in front of the camera posing, I’m the photographer. My friends and I love getting creative together. This is a behind-the-scene shot of an editorial shoot I did with my friend and photographer Kristina Ruddick. I love how accessible photography is now. 35mm is back in style and smart phones now have such great cameras, anyone can get into it.Kimberly-Sue Murray – I’ve had a good run this past year. I went from working on Shadowhunters, to V Wars, to a lead in a new TV show premiering next Spring. I’ve been so luck to be working as an actor. It hasn’t always been like that. I’ve had rough years. Being on set if my happy place. This is a photo of my make-up team and I on set of Shadowhunters. It was in the chair for 2.5 hours every day. I was getting the vine tattoos applied and hand paint gold. Thank you to my co-star Luke Baines for capturing the moment.
What ‘hood are you in?
I’m smack downtown, right by Queen West and University, so I have a great view of the CN Tower. I’m moving in the New Year so I’m going to miss the view, but definitely not the noise at 3:00 AM.
What do you do?
I am an actor here in Toronto. On my free time I run a self-tape and audition coaching business. I love photography, arts and crafts, hiking, hanging out with my friends, listening to True Crime podcasts and snuggling with my dog.
What are you currently working on?
I’m on a new Netflix Original series called V Wars that premiered earlier this month. The show is based on Jonathan Maberry’s anthology about an ancient pathogen that leaks from the melting ice caps and infects certain people turning them into vampire. It’s a genre show that explores relevant social and political issues. I’m currently working on a new TV series and a video game, but I can’t quite talk about those yet. Stay tuned.
Where can we find your work?
You can catch me on Netflix in V Wars as Danika Dubov and Shadowhunters 3B as the Seelie Queen. You can also follow me on social media on Instagram and Twitter.
