TV Acting, Writing, and Producing
Kilpatrick's first TV appearance was in an episode of House in 2008. She also guest-starred in The Game, Hart of Dixie, Mike & Molly, Southland, Major Crimes, and five appearances on Private Practice. She wrote and served as story editor for episodes of the comedy-drama I'm Dying Up Here The reception of Kilpatrick's web series American Koko (see below) helped her become a staff writer for the NBC police-procedural The Mysteries of Laura. She had a recurring role in the comedy series, The Last O.G. and wrote two episodes of the show.
She later starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone reboot in 2019. The Guardian said that her presence was so invigorating that it almost cured flaws in the script. In 2020 she was cast as Clara Drake in the HBO period drama series, Perry Mason.
Kilpatrick has created, written, produced, and starred in several projects for TV. In interview, she has explained the impulses behind her projects:
"In television or film, I was going out [i.e. auditioning] a lot for nurses, prostitutes and sassy friends. Every Black actress, and really every actor of color, has that story. I was just interested in doing something that saw a Black woman at the center that went on a journey with her."
In April 2023, she signed an overall deal with BET Studios. She created, produced and starred in Diarra from Detroit, a mystery comedy-drama series set in Detroit. The series received positive reviews from critics. The show, Kilpatrick's performance, the writing, and the director, earned various award nominations (see Awards below). NPR journalist Tonya Mosley, who is from Detroit, said about the show:
"This work is unlike anything I've ever seen. It's smart and funny while also interweaving some very serious topics, like the epidemic of missing Black children and the social and economic challenges of Detroit. [It also] tackles divorce and friendship and betrayal and police corruption. And did I mention that it's funny? [...] There is a lightness and also a depth that is rarely given to stories about the city. [Kilpatrick] really conveys community and a sense of place that I've never seen [on screen] about our hometown."" -Tonya Mosley of NPR
In 2015, she wrote, produced, and starred in a satirical web series, American Koko, on YouTube, and later produced a new version of the show for ABC's digital service ABCd in 2017. The original web series won the American Black Film Festival’s Best Web Series Award in 2015. Kilpatrick has said that the budget was $3,000, which was her tax return check. The web series was noticed by producer/actor Julius Tennon and his wife Viola Davis who picked it up for development at their production company, JuVee Productions. The new series was purchased by ABC. The original first season was re-shot and a second season was produced. Both seasons premiered online on ABC Digital on June 19, 2017.
The show follows Koko (played by Kilpatrick), who "is a Los Angeles race detective at the Everyone’s a Little Racist Agency (E.A.R), which has the daunting mandate of ending racism in America." The role earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.
"In post-post-racial America, problems of a distinctly racial nature are considered especially heinous. In Lost Angeles, these sticky racial situations are handled by an elite team of problem solvers. Agent Baldwin Bledsoe, our resident genius and social scientist. Lucky Ling, our eternal optimist. Milo Gold, like Batman his superpower is white privilege. And there's Akosua Miller, codename: Koko. Not only an employee, she was also once a client. She was cured of Type 1 Angry Black Woman Syndrome, the kind inherited from residual racial trauma. Working for the Everyone's a Little Racist Agency isn't just a job for Koko, it's a mission. This is her story."
-Opening voice-over narrated by Viola Davis
Kilpatrick wrote, produced, and starred in a pilot for Amazon Studios in fall 2017 titled The Climb, directed by Chris Robinson and co-produced with Christina Lee through the The Mark Gordon Company. It is a "Detroit-set comedy about an assistant who ditches her job to find internet fame" and is about the American Dream in a rapidly changing Detroit. The series was not picked up by Amazon.
Several reviewers praised Kilpatrick's work in the pilot when it was publicly aired on Amazon Prime. The Guardian's Stuart Heritage compared the pilot to Haters Back Off and also said, "The show is gorgeous to look at, bordering on high fashion at times, and it would undoubtedly land upon a better sense of itself if given a series. However, judging by the pilot alone, it has much less going for it than its competitors." Daniel Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter compared it to SMILF and downplayed comparisons to Insecure while saying, "I don’t think The Climb is a great pilot, but I think star and creator Diarra Kilpatrick has a voice and a mindset that are worth supporting. [This pilot is like a] 27-minute short-film showcase reel that would, in a perfect world, be steered by a strong and nurturing network development team." Decider's Brett White compared it to Broad City and said, "Kilpatrick sells every aspect of this character, bringing a rich humanity to social media queens that are often dismissed as vapid."
