Kali Reis

Kali Reis (born August 24, 1986) is an American professional boxer and actress. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2016 and the WBA, WBO, and IBO female light welterweight titles between 2020 and 2022. She also challenged Cecilia Brækhus for the undisputed female welterweight title in 2018.
In 2021, Reis made her acting debut as the star of the American thriller film Catch the Fair One. For her performance as a boxer endeavoring to rescue her missing sister, she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She has since starred in the mystery series True Detective: Night Country (2024),for which received a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Critics Choice Award nomination.
Reis was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 24, 1986, the youngest of five children. She and her siblings were raised by their mother in East Providence. She has Cape Verdean heritage, and is a member of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe. She has incorporated the name Mequinonoag, given to her by her mother, which she translates as "many feathers" or "many talents", into her boxing nickname, "K.O. Mequinonoag".
Reis was an athletic child and often played rougher sports with the neighborhood boys. She participated in her junior high and high school's marching bands and color guards and competed in high school volleyball, basketball, and softball. Reis started boxing at age 14 at Manfredo's Gym in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She was also coached at home by a local Native American boxer who was a friend of her mother.
Reis later attended school for criminology, aiming to be a corrections officer for juveniles. She also learned how to repair motorcycles at MTTI. She continued her training at Manfredos Gym and Big Six Boxing Academy in Providence.
Before going pro, Reis had a successful amateur career, securing the 2007 Rocky Marciano Championship, the 2007 NYC Golden Gloves, and the 2006 New England 154 Championship. While beginning her boxing career, she also worked in nightclub security. During this time, she sued the city after being attacked by a police officer.
In 2012, Reis was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that sidelined her for the remainder of the boxing season. However, she returned in 2014 and fought for the WIBA title in November of that year. Reis gained further attention in the sport after the match. On November 12, 2014, Reis won the IBA crown defeating Teresa Perozzi in Bermuda. Reis also coaches boxing for youth and works as a trainer. In April 2016, Reis won her first major world title in New Zealand against Maricela Cornejo for the vacant WBC World Middleweight title.
HBO broadcast its first women's bout, between Cecilia Brækhus and Reis, on May 5, 2018, which Brækhus won.
Reis won a total of 19 fights during her career, 5 by knockout.
Reis became involved in the movie Catch the Fair One after filmmaker Josef Kubota Wladyka discovered Reis's advocacy for the MMIWG movement and asked if she would collaborate as a co-writer and lead actress on a film about that subject. Catch the Fair One premiered in June 2021 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film and Reis's debut performance received critical acclaim.
Reis was cast in Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's 2023 film Asphalt City (originally titled Black Flies, adapted from the 2008 novel of the same name by Shannon Burke), starring Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan, and Katherine Waterston.
In June 2022, Reis was announced as the co-lead of True Detective: Night Country, the fourth season of HBO's anthology crime series. Reis starred alongside Jodie Foster as a detective investigating the disappearance of eight men from an Alaskan research station and that event's possible connection to the earlier murder of a young woman, an Iñupiaq activist.
For her role in Catch the Fair One, Reis won the Jury Award for Best Actress at the 2021 Newport Beach Film Festival. She was also nominated for Best Female Lead at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards. In 2024, Reis became the first Native American woman nominated for a Primetime Emmy for acting; Reis was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her work in True Detective.
In February 2022, Reis was honored for her achievements as an athlete and for mentoring local youth by being inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletic Hall of Fame. That same year, she also received the "Misty Upham Award" at the Red National International Film Festival and was honored with a key to the City of East Providence. On March 28, 2024, a panel of Rhode Island House of Representatives recognized Reis with the Community Hero Award for her advocacy and support of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. The award was inscribed: "She needed a hero, so she became one."
Reis identifies as two-spirit, and has been in relationships with both women and men. She is married to Brian Cohen, a retired professional boxer.
She is an active supporter of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) movement.