Clare McConnell was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to parents from Ireland. Upon deciding to pursue a career in performance, McConnell relocated to the other side of her home country to Toronto, where she enrolled in the Ryerson Theater School. After two years, however, McConnell left the institution to join the improvisational comedy troupe the Second City. During her tours with the organization, McConnell landed her earliest professional acting jobs, the first of which being a short titled "This Is What It Sounds Like Falling Out of Love with You" (2016).
She made her feature debut in the Slamdance Film Festival premiere "Dim the Fluorescents" (2017) before landing a part on the developing "Star Trek" series "Star Trek: Discovery" (CBS 2017-). She was cast as the character Dennas, leader of government of the science fiction franchise's notorious alien race, the Klingons.