Tené Carter is a graduate of Florida A&M University with a degree in Theatre. From there she ventured to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. where she worked with the Performance Plus and the Performing Arts Centers and Schools programs, and was instrumental in the first annual Mark Twain Humor Awards, of which Richard Pryor was honored.  While in Washington, D.C., she graced the stages in productions of, What About Eve?, Measure for Measure, and was a member of Shakespeare Sistah.  She was also seen in the short film, 5 Lines, and was featured in the HBO hit, The Corner.


Her Acting journey continued with Shakespeare and Company where she was seen in the productions of The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Coriolanus and A View Beyond.  Tené was also a guest artist/director for the Fall Festival of Shakespeare ’00, ’01 and the Arts for All programs.


From Shakespeare and Company, she ventured to Los Angeles, CA where she received the NAACP Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in August Wilson’s, Gem of the Ocean, directed by Ben Bradley for The Fountain Theatre. Tené was most recently seen as “Blair” in The Legend of Mountain Mama, a Performance Ethnography by Yunina Barbour-Payne.  Tené was also the Lady in Blue as well as Lady in Red in For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. She was also seen in Towne Street Theatre’s In Response,  which was TowneStreet Theater’s response to police brutality through the decades- playing a number of characters, including Zora Neale Hurston.  Other plays include:  two 10-Minute Play Festivals, Cool Negroes, The NAACP Theater nominated Langston and Nicolas, Start of Conversations, Summers of Suffolk , Spooks and Danica and Jean.  As well as West Coast Ensemble’s To Kill a Mocking Bird, The NAACP Theatre Award nominated For the Love of Freedom, Christophe, via The Robey Theater, and she was apart of the award winning cast of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, winner of 2 LA Ovation Awards and 2 NAACP Theatre Awards. Other notable productions include Venus and Mars: Datenight, with Strong Mountain Productions and A Providential Occurrence.  Tené can be seen in a number of films, including the independent The Last Kennedy (Palette Films), The Initiation (Moonlight Films), and the Hollywood Black Film Festival/Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival film Homeless Destiny, A Better Place and The Ultimate Wingman.  She was also seen on the Lifetime Television show, Strong Medicine.


Tené most recently Co-Produced the documentary, BOUND: Africans vs African Americans with Peres Owino and Isaiah Washington, which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival, and has been in festivals around the world, including Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Berlin, and has been shown in Universities including Harvard University and the University of Virginia.  BOUND is currently on iTunes, https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/bound-africans-vs-african/id989662587 .


Tené has also directed the play, “What Fools These Mortals Be, AMIRITE?” by Donna Latham for the Scriptwriters 10x10 Play Festival; as well as, “A Black Woman’s Response to Shahrazad Ali,” and “They Say,” by Johnathan Johnston for Houston’s Fade to Black 10 Minute Staged Reading Series. She was also an assistant director for the play Pterodactyls.


She is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award given by the Florida A&M University Alumni Association –Southern California Chapter and has earned her Masters in Education,  adding Educator to her list of accomplishments; and has taught Theater with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s- Arts Education Branch for 11 Years, and is currently teaching Secondary Theater with Dulles Middle School.  Teaching credits also include Shakespeare and Company, as well as MainStreet Theater.


Although Tené is honored and humbled by the many blessings she has received, she still believes there is more work to be done.  “Though there have been many who have created the path before me, as I walk this path, I must make a contribution, clearing the way for others.”