Karena Evans Biography

Karena Evans is a Canadian music video director and actress. She is known for directing the music videos for Drake’s 2018 Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, “God’s Plan”, “Nice for What”, and “In My Feelings”. Evans is the first woman to receive the Prism Prize’s Lipsett Award for music video direction. She won the Much Music Video Award for Best Director at the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs.

In addition to working as a music video director, Evans has acted in the television series Mary Kills People and has starred in two feature films, Every Day and Firecrackers, the latter of which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.

Karena Evans Age

She was born on December 17, 1995, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is twenty-three years of age as of 2018

Karena Evans Early life

Evans was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Coincidentally, the same place Drake is from.  Evans started her film career by interning for Director X and soon became the director of the company. But music videos aren’t her only specialty. Her visual style is cinematic, authentic, and narrative-heavy.

Karena Evans

Karena Evans Directing

Evans started her career in the music industry as an intern for Director X. She was eventually signed as a director to his music video production company, Popprok. Since then, Evans has directed music videos for numerous artists, including Belly and Sean Paul.

She has also directed commercials for Nike, Inc., including a Black Lives Matter short for the brand.  Evans garnered attention in early 2018 when she directed Drake’s viral “God’s Plan” music video; the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the video shows Drake donating their $1 million dollar budget to the people of Miami.

She subsequently directed his “Nice for What” music video, which also reached number one and garnered critical acclaim from several publications. Vogue lauded Evans as “surely destined to be the starriest young video director in the firmament”.

 Later that year, she became the first woman to win the Prism Prize’s Lipsett Award for music video direction.

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

In late 2018, Evans earned Much Music Video Award and MTV Video Music Award nominations for her work on Drake’s videos. She ultimately won Best Director at the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs for her work on “God’s Plan”.

Karena Evans 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, the latter of which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. That same year, she also performed a recurring role in the Canadian television series Mary Kills People.

Karena Evans 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. Evans has stated that she is heavily influenced by Melina Matsoukas, whom she called her “hero” in an interview with Billboard. Evans hopes to be an inspiration for other young black women from her hometown of Toronto.

Karena Evans Awards

She became the first woman to receive Prism Prize’s prestigious Lipsett Award, which recognizes Canadian music video artists for innovation and creativity.