Cleo Rinkwest is a South-African actor who has worked with the likes of Samuel L Jackson, The Walking Dead's Callan McCauliff, and Game of Thrones, Charlotte Hope. Through her acting, she seeks to perform stories that go beyond entertainment and enlighten her audiences to values of human flourishing. Her current film projects follow themes of justice and mercy, capital punishment laws in Southern Africa, the supernatural realm, and the impact of AI on humanity - all ranging from comedy, horror and drama.
Cleo began her formal performance training at the Ennerdale School of Dance at the age of 10. At the age of 16, she had become the recipient of numerous regional and national ballroom and Latin American dance championship titles.
After completing her high school career, she took a gap year in the USA to travel, work as an au pair and study part-time. She enrolled in UCLA’s TV writers program. It was then that I discovered that she wanted to pursue storytelling full time. Upon her return home to SA, she was introduced to Shakespeare by acclaimed veteran actress Dorothy Anne Gould - her acting coach and mentor to date.
At the age of 23 Cleo was the youngest writer to work on the BAFTA-nominated soap, The Wild, created by Rohan Dickson (Reyka, Desert Rose) who mentored her in the development of her voice as a writer. Her other writing credits include SAFTA award-winning series Soul City, Zone 14, Isidingo, Ashes to Ashes, Inkaba, Zabalaza and Keeping Score in which she portrayed gymnast, Jin Jai Kim.
Cleo is producer and lead actress on a couple of feature films written by Cilla Lowen - once of which is to be directed by Sara Bletcher. Cleo is also a special needs mom and Down Syndrome Awareness Advocate.