Actress Ciera Payton

Today on the BeachLifestyle Radio Show, Host Neil Haley The Total Tutor will interview Actress Ciera Payton.

Ciera Payton is a New Orleans Native with an authentic Southern girl charm.  She was raised in multiple neighborhoods in New Orleans but she most identifies with the third ward. There, she lived with her drug addict father and Nanaw (Grandmother). It was under those circumstances that Ciera had to find a way to create her voice.

When her Aunt Kathy advised her to read Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Ciera discovered that, “If Maya got through it I could get through it too.” And that’s where she discovered her artist voice.

When Ciera was in eighth grade, her Nanaw died of cancer and her father was incarcerated. It was then that Ciera went to live with her mother in New Orleans East. This new world opened endless possibilities for Ciera. She joined her school’s Drama Troupe and then auditioned for the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. As a freshman, she auditioned for the introductory course at NOCCA, but was enrolled in the sophomore class.

The NOCCA theater program embodied the spirit and family ensemble that Ciera desired. She graduated from NOCCA as a junior and then headed to North Carolina School of the Arts for their High School Drama program and continued to study there for college.