top of page

Chelsey's Story

Mr. Chelsey Mark is a Canadian actor, writer, filmmaker and host. As a film actor, some of his roles have been in Tubi’s First Person Shooter (2022), Hallmark’s A Kiss before Christmas (2021),  CBC’s Burden of Truth (2020) and APTN’s Tribal (2020).  He won an ACTRA Award (2022) for Outstanding Performance in a Feature in First Person Shooter.  Chelsey was selected for the Whistler Indigenous Fellowship at the Whistler Film Festival (2019) for his short The Callback. He was among five finalists in the Gimli Film Festival RBC Pitch Competition (2020).  His short Vengeance (2020) Won Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor in the Winnipeg Film Group 48-hour film competition. Chelsey’s filmmaking career continues as he was chosen for the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices (2021) and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Write Over Here: Screenwriting Residency (2022).  He played the role of Roger Nash in Norm Foster’s The Long Weekend at the Peterborough Theatre Guild(2023).

 

My Story from the beginning

Chelsey Mark was born on May 9th in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. He is the son of Inky Mark, Member of Parliament (14 years) and Lynda Mark, secretary. Chelsey is the second of their two children, with an older brother Ashley. Raised on the farm until grade six, the Mark family then moved into the City of Dauphin. In his final year at Dauphin Regional Comprehensive High School, Chelsey was high school president.

 

Following graduation from Brandon University with a major in Sociology and a minor in Psychology and Drama, Chelsey moved to China. He researched and participated in Mandarin popular culture (2000-2018).  He earned 10,000 hours in front of the camera as a singer, TV host and actor. After touring the country as a lead singer and guitarist (2002-2005), he received his first big break performing on the nationally televised The Star Road (2005), boosting his TV singing career. Over the course of two years (2005-2007), Chelsey competed in numerous singing competitions, American Idol-type showcases, opened several stadium tours and won an award in the Sprite Wo Xing Wo Xiu singing competition.

 

Thanks to his talent and growing reputation Chelsey became the official TV personality and emcee for "NBA Made in China", the NBA's official TV show in China (2007). As part of the NBA family, Chelsey traveled the world interviewing countless NBA legends/all-stars, attending four NBA All-Star games and became the face of the NBA in China. Owing to his success as an emcee, a wave of hosting opportunities followed including TV shows and live branding events (2007 to present). Major TV shows included NBA Made in China, Top Gear, Let's Music and Travelogue. Chelsey also emcee'd countless live branding events for Taylor Swift, BMW, Microsoft, Nike, Air Jordan, Men's Health and American Airlines.

 

While performing non-stop, Chelsey produced and executed projects on his own. Aside from shooting a Much Music VJ competition video in 1997, he began producing, directing and writing over 300 five-minute episodes for the educational TV segment CCTV’s Action English (2011).  In this time he independently produced several projects: a travel special for his Manitoban hometown A Traveling We Go (2012), Jane Goodall’s Youth organization Roots and Shoots pilot music video (2009) and a Canada Tourism Commission TV pilot Keep Exploring (2014). Mr. Mark also starred, directed and produced an action short Bratya (2017), a five-episode reality web series Mai China Life (2018) and a body transformation documentary Becoming Bruce (2016).  

 

Chelsey won the lead role of Felix in a Chinese version of The Odd Couple at The National Center for the Performing Arts(2012) in Beijing. After studying with famous Chinese theater director Guwei on The Odd Couple, the project paved the way for him to embark on his film/TV acting career. Following this theater role Chelsey booked roles on Harbin Story (2013), Chasing Love (2015), The War of 1945 (2015), Army of Descendants (2016), The Tutor (2016) and Hometown on the Cloud (2017).

 

In 2018, Chelsey returned home to Manitoba to perfect his acting craft while dedicating his time to training, screenwriting and filmmaking. Relocating to Canada brought big rewards as Chelsey became an Actra member while filming Stand! (2018) and Fatal Friend Request (2018). Later that year, he flew back to China for the feature film Variant (2018) as the lead villain.

 

2019 was very gracious to Chelsey booking roles on Amazon Prime’s Tales from the Loop (2019), CBC’s Burden of Truth (2019), APTN Tribal (2019) and the feature film The First Encounter (2019).  One of the major highlights was receiving one on one direction from Academy award winning director Jodie Foster while filming Tales from the Loop.   

 

Kickstarting his filmmaking career, Chelsey was selected for the Whistler Indigenous Fellowship at the Whistler Film Festival (2019) for his short The Callback. Keeping busy during Covid-19 quarantine Chelsey solo filmed a comedy short, I am Covid-19 (2020). He received funding to write the 1st draft of his feature film Skate like a Girl, championed a spot in the Foundations of Purpose Leadership Intensive at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2020) and was one of the five finalists in the Gimli Film Festivals RBC Pitch Competition (2020).  His short Vengeance (2020) Won Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor in the Winnipeg Film Groups 48-hour film competition. Chelsey rounded out 2020 with roles on Cheerleader Abduction (2020), Snow Kissed (2020) and a Covid-19 PSA for the province of Manitoba.

 

In 2021, Chelsey performed a monologue in True Colors (2021) written by David Chiu, booked a lead role in the film First Person Shooter (2021) and an appearance in Hallmark’s A Kiss before Christmas (2021). Continuing his filmmaking career he was a participant in the Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices (2021), entered his short The Callback (2021) into the film festival circuit and finished the 1st draft of his feature film Skate like a Girl (2021). 

 

In 2022, he finished the 2nd draft of Skate like a Girl, completed his short film The Girl Next Door (2022), filmed comedy sketches The Screenwriters Masterpiece (2022) & Private Fries (2022) and is in post production of Parental Control (2022).  Chelsey was selected for the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Write Over Here: Screenwriting Residency (2022) and won an ACTRA Manitoba Award (2022) for Outstanding Performance in a Feature in First Person Shooter.

In 2023, Chelsey completed the 3rd draft of Skate Like a Girl, booked a role on season 3 of Chucky(2023) and played the role of Roger Nash in Norm Foster’s The Long Weekend at the Peterborough Theatre Guild(2023). 

Awards & Acknowledgements

6th ACTRA Manitoba Awards 2022

Outstanding Performance in a Feature

First Person Shooter

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity 2022

Write Over Here: Screenwriting Residency

The 2021 Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative 2021

Selected 100

Project: Skate Like a Girl

Winnipeg Film Group 48-Film festival 2020

Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor

Project: Vengeance

Gimli Film Festival 2020

RBC Emerging Filmmakers Pitch Competition Finalist, Project: The Callback

 

Banff World Media Festival  2020

Foundations of Purpose Leadership Intensive

 Centre for Arts and Creativity

Whistler Film Festival 2019

Whistler Indigenous Fellowship

 Project: The Callback

bottom of page