Karena Evans

Canadian director and actress

Music video director
TV director
actress

Years active2016–presentWebsitekarenaevans.com

Karena Evans (born December 17, 1995) is a Canadian director and actress. She garnered recognition for directing the music videos for Drake's 2018 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles, "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". Evans won the 2018 Much Music Video Award for Best Director and became the first woman to receive the Prism Prize's Lipsett Award for music video direction.^[1]

Evans has acted in the television series Mary Kills People and had a starring role in the 2018 indie film Firecrackers,^[2] which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2020, Evans directed the premiere episode for the Starz drama series P-Valley.^[3] She directed an episode of the fourth season of the FX crime drama Snowfall,^[4] and she directed the first two episodes of the HBO Max Gossip Girl reboot.^[5]

Career

Directing

Evans began her career in the music industry as an intern for Director X.^[6] She was eventually signed as a director to his music video production company, Popprok.^[7]^[8] Since then, Evans has directed music videos for numerous artists, including Belly and Sean Paul.^[9] She has also directed commercials for Nike, Inc., including a Black Lives Matter short for the brand.^[10]^[11]

Evans garnered attention in early 2018 when she directed the music video for Drake's single "God's Plan"; the video went viral and the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The video depicts Drake donating his $1 million production budget to the people of Miami.^[12] Evans subsequently directed his "Nice for What" music video, which garnered critical acclaim from several publications.^[13]^[14] Evans referred to the video as a "celebration of women",^[10] as the video featured iconic female stars such as Olivia Wilde and Issa Rae. Vogue lauded Evans as "surely destined to be the starriest young video director in the firmament".^[15] Later that year, she became the first woman to win the Prism Prize's Lipsett Award for music video direction.^[1]^[16] That year, Director X posted a congratulations to Evans with this caption:

"@karenaevans started as an intern. She stayed longer worked harder than everyone else. From intern to director at my company. Last year grinding on low budget jobs giving big budget results. This year she’s directed @champagnepapi God’s Plan & the new single Nice For What. When work ethic is matched by talent. Big up the team @popp_rok for pulling this wide ranging job off. Here’s some bts footage for all y’all 🙌🏽 (feel like a Dad video taping his daughter at a recital when ever I come to set)"^[10]

In May 2018, SZA released a music video featuring Donald Glover for her song "Garden (Say It Like That)", which was directed by Evans.^[17] Evans signed with WME later that month.^[18] That summer, she also directed the music videos for Drake's singles "I'm Upset" and "In My Feelings".^[19]^[20]

In late 2018, Evans earned Much Music Video Award and MTV Video Music Award nominations for her work on Drake's videos.^[21] She ultimately won Best Director at the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs for her work on "God's Plan".^[22] In 2020, Evans was placed on BET's "Future 40" list, which is a list of “40 of the most inspiring and innovative vanguards who are redefining what it means to be unapologetically young, gifted, and black”.^[23]

Acting

As an actress, Evans began her career in 2016 with a role in a short film called WhiteWoods. In 2018, she starred in two feature films, Michael Sucsy's Every Day and Jasmin Mozaffari's Firecrackers, opposite Michaela Kurimsky, the latter of which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.^[24] That same year, she also performed a recurring role in the Canadian television series Mary Kills People.^[25]

Influences

Evans is the younger sister of Jordan Evans, a producer who has worked with several successful artists, and was inspired by him to pursue her passion.^[26] Evans has stated that she is heavily influenced by Melina Matsoukas, whom she called her "hero" in an interview with Billboard.^[21] Evans hopes to be an inspiration for other young black women from her hometown of Toronto.^[26]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2016	Delta State: Slipping Into the Future	Sonya / Jodi Collins
2018	Every Day	Hannah / A
2018	Firecrackers	Chantal

TV

Year	Show	Actor	Director	Notes
2018	Mary Kills People	Yes	No	Recurring Role (5 episodes)
2020	P-Valley	No	Yes	Episode #1.1 ("Perpetratin')
2020	Swipe Night	No	Yes	Episode #2.1
2021	Snowfall	No	Yes	Episode #4.2
2021	Gossip Girl	No	Yes	Episodes #1.1 and #1.2^[27]
2024	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	No	Yes	Episodes #3, 5

Music videos

Year	Song	Artist
2017	"Mumble Rap"	Belly
	"The Come Down Is Real Too"	Belly
	"Run This"	PLAZA
2018	"God's Plan"	Drake
	"Nice For What"	Drake
	"D'Evils"	SiR
	"Garden (Say It Like Dat)"	SZA
	"I'm Upset"	Drake
	"In My Feelings"	Drake
	"Tap Out"	Jay Rock
2019	“Everyday Life”	Coldplay
2021	"Have Mercy"	Chlöe

References

^ ^a ^b "Meet Karena Evans, the first female recipient of Canada's music video direction honour The Lipsett Prize – CBC Radio".
^ "Karena Evans: How I Made It as a Director and Actor - FLARE". www.flare.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
^ "Karena Evans busts through Hollywood ceilings with P-Valley". nowtoronto.com. July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
^ "Director Karena Evans on Moving to Television, Working on 'P-Valley' and 'Snowfall' | Watch Less Ep. 37". Complex. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 2, 2020). "'Gossip Girl': Karena Evans To Direct First Two Episodes Of HBO Max Series Reboot". Deadline. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
^ "Everything You Need to Know About Drake's 'God's Plan' Video". Billboard.
^ "Karena Evans – Popp Rok". popprok.com.
^ "Meet Karena Evans, the 22-Year-Old Music Video Director Behind "Nice for What" – Verge Campus". April 12, 2018.
^ "Anders' "You for You" Video Showcases a Side of Toronto You've Never Seen". Complex.
^ ^a ^b ^c "22-Year-Old Filmmaker Karena Evans Helmed Drake's Star-Studded 'Nice For What' Video". shadowandact.com.
^ "Karena Evans joins M ss ng P eces, RSA signs Sophie Edelstein". April 11, 2018.
^ Martin, Emmie (February 20, 2018). "Drake gave away entire $1 million budget for God's Plan video". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
^ Kimball, Whitney (April 7, 2018). "Karena Evans's New Video for Drake Puts Pop to the Bechdel Test".
^ "This is everything important about Drake's 'Nice for What' music video". April 17, 2018.
^ "Is Drake's "Nice for What" a Problem for Instagram?". April 13, 2018.
^ "Karena Evans Named Winner of 2018 Lipsett Award".
^ Hahn, Rachel (May 18, 2018). "Watch SZA and Her Mom Shine in Her New Music Video". VOGUE. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (May 23, 2018). "WME Signs Director Karena Evans". Deadline. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
^ "All the Videos From Drake's 'Scorpion' Album Ranked: Critic's Pick". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
^ "Drake Drops "In My Feelings" Video". Complex. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "The New Wave of Music Video Directors Is Here: 10 Fresh Talents Shooting For Drake, Dua Lipa & More". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
^ "Shawn Mendes Dominates iHeartRadio MMVAs 2018". Billboard. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
^ "BET DIGITAL CELEBRATES BLACK EXCELLENCE WITH NEW ORIGINAL EDITORIAL SERIES". Chicago Defender. February 7, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
^ Erbland, Kate (August 1, 2018). "'Firecrackers' First Look: Jasmin Mozaffari's Female-Centric TIFF Premiere Challenges the Patriarchy – Watch". IndieWire. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
^ "Everything You Need to Know About Drake's 'God's Plan' Video". Billboard. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Epstein, Rachel (August 23, 2018). "Karena Evans Dropped Out of Film School—Then Started Making Music Videos with Drake". Marie Claire. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
^ "Gossip Girl Season 1 Synopsis". WarnerMedia (Press release). June 28, 2021. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.