Kinley Cunningham

Kinley Cunningham was born as Kinley Rae Cunnigham on December 22, 2010, in Los Angeles, CA, but moved to Austin, TX when she was 3. There she excelled in both gymnastics and dance, but at the age of 5 she started competing in dance, and her true talents began to blossom as she collected trophies and captured the attention of audiences at various regional dance competitions and conventions. About this same time, Kinley started training in acting and musical theater and began booking regional commercial and modeling jobs. Her father, who worked in visual effects and animation, moved back to the Los Angeles area for work in 2018 where Kinley began training with a well known dance studio in Orange County, signed with a talent agent, and started going on auditions. She earned a spot with Kid Clippers, the popular youth hip-hop crew that performs at LA Clipper home games, but had to turn the opportunity down due to her competitive dance commitments. Her first break came in the form of landing both a role in the chorus and of Shy Dwarf in the Lythgoe Family Panto theater production "A Snow White Christmas" produced and directed by Bonnie Lythgoe and starring Michelle Williams (Destiny's Child), Olivia Sanabia, Garret Clayton, and Neil Patrick Harris. The experience cemented in Kinley the idea that she didn't want to just be a dancer, but that she wanted to also act and sing, perhaps even all three at the same time. Kinley quickly started to make a name for herself on the LA dance scene as well as the competition circuit, receiving her first two national titles in the Summer of 2020 at the age of 9. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, like everyone else, Kinley started taking classes from home, and her parents started posting the combos on Instagram. She was prolific, posting a new dance every day for months. Her high energy videos started to go viral, quickly growing an audience and catching the attention of Jessalynn Siwa who cast her in Jojo Siwa's "D.R.E.A.M. The Slumber Party" music video. Later that year she would go on to appear on the unscripted talent competition show "Siwa's Dance Pop Revolution" where she would eventually win a spot in the tween girl pop group XOMG Pop!