Chelsey Mark

Mr. Chelsey Mark is a Canadian actor, writer, filmmaker and host. As a film actor, some of his projects have been 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 Manitoba 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 one of 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'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 is working on the 2nd draft of his feature film Skate like a Girl (2022) and completed three short films in 2022, The Sacred Forest, The Girl Next Door and Parental control.

From the Beginning...

Chelsey Mark was born Chelsey Lee Mark 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 where he attended Henderson Elementary School, McKenzie Junior High and Dauphin Regional Comprehensive High School, where he 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 international actor. After touring the country as a lead singer and guitarist (2002-2005), he received his first big break when he won the first round of The Star Road (2005), boosting his TV singing career. Over the course of two years (2005-2007), Chelsey competed in several singing competitions and 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, interviewed countless NBA legends and all-stars, attended four NBA All-Star games and became the face of the NBA in China. Owing to this 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, Dwayne Wade, Men's Health and American Airlines.

Owing to this 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, Dwayne Wade, Men's Health and American Airlines.

In 2012 Chelsey won the lead role of Felix in a Chinese version of The Odd Couple at the Chinese National Theatre (The Egg) in Beijing. After studying with famous Chinese theatre director Guwei on The Odd Couple, the project paved the way for him to embark on his acting career: Harbin Story (2013), Chasing Love (2015), The War of 1945 (2015), Army of Descendants (2016), The Tutor (2016), Bratya (2017) and Hometown on the Cloud (2017) followed in the years after his theatre role.

Relocating to Canada brought big rewards, with Chelsey becoming an Actra member while filming Stand! (2018) and Fatal Friend Request (2018). Chelsey finished off the year in China filming 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's Tribal (2019) and 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 won a spot in the Whistler Indigenous Fellowship at the Whistler Film Festival (2019) with his short The Callback. Keeping busy during Covid-19 quarantine solo filmed a comedy short I am Covid-19 (2020), received funding form the CCA and Winnipeg Arts Council to write the 1st draft of his feature film Skate like a Girl. He also 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 and 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.

Chelsey filmed a monologue in True Colors (2021) written by David Chiu, booked a lead role in the TV movie 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 the year of the Tiger, he is writing 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 is nominated for an ACTRA award in the category of Outstanding Performance in a Feature for his role of Zhang in First Person Shooter.