Jessica Parker Kennedy (born on October 3, 1984 in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian actress. She moved to the US for her acting career, and began with small roles in a few films and TV shows. The roles Kennedy gained in Smallville and The Secret Circle there helped her be recognized. She is best known for Black Sails and The Flash.
Being mixed race (born to a White mother and Black father), Kennedy has spoken about gaining more roles for people of color, and being touched by women with the same background giving her thanks for bringing them all more representation. Parker was also raised Jewish.
She's married to actor Ronen Rubinstein, and according to him was very supportive of his coming out as being bisexual. They had a Jewish wedding ceremony.
Selected Filmography:
- Santa Baby (2006) as Lucy the Elf
- Santa Baby 2" Christmas Maybe (2009)
- Decoys 2: Alien Seduction (2007) as Beautiful Girl
- Another Cinderella Story (2008) as Tami
- Smallville (2008-2010) as Bette Sans Souci / Plastique
- Fear Itself (2009) as Becca (episode "The Spirit Box")
- The Troop (2010) as Laurel
- V (2010) as Grace
- Undercovers (2010) as Lizzie
- Brothers & Sisters (2010) as Angie
- Lie to Me (2010) as Alison Roberts
- Fairly Legal (2011) as Jessica Nord
- The Secret Circle (2011-2012) as Melissa Glaser
- 50/50 (2011) as Jackie
- In Time (2011) as Edouarda
- 90210 (2012-2013) as Megan Rose
- Black Sails (2014-2017) as Max
- Lethal Weapon (2017) as DJ
- Colony (2017) as Maya
- Ransom (2017) as Charlotte Walker
- Arrowverse (2017-2019) as Nora West-Allen / XS
- Crisis on Earth-X (2017)
- The Flash (2018-2023)
- See For Me (2021) as Kelly
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2024) as Medusa
Tropes associated with her work includes:
- Actor-Shared Background: When her characters' ethnicity is given, it's usually mixed race (specifically Black/White biracial) like hers.
- Dawson Casting: Due to her short stature and very youthful appearance, she usually plays characters who are a decade younger than her.
- Fake American: She's played many American characters, probably more than Canadians.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her characters tend to show a lot of skin (and in the case of Black Sails, full-frontal nudity, along with a number of sex scenes), or wear form-hugging clothes at least.
- Older Than They Look: She's in her late thirties but can pass for much younger without any issue.
- Plays Great Ethnics: Thanks to her biracial heritage, she has played several characters with different backgrounds.
- Twofer Token Minority: In a number of casts she's been the only woman of color. For Black Sails, her character Max was a lesbian while the only native French speaker as well.
