Indigenous Artist

Chelsey Mark Biography

Mr. Chelsey Mark is a Canadian actor, writer, filmmaker and host. As a film actor, some of his roles have been in Chucky Season 3 (2023) 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). In 2024 he wrote a new feature film Uncle Hockey and continues to polish his other feature film, Skate Like a Girl.

Chelsey’s Story from the Beginning...

Chelsey Mark was born on May 9th in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. He is the son of Inky Mark, a 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. Chelsey was high school president in his final year at Dauphin Regional Comprehensive High School.

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 as a singer, TV host and actor in front of the camera. 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 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 travelled 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 emceed 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). During 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 theatre director Guwei on The Odd Couple, the project paved the way for him to embark on his film/TV acting career. Following this theatre role, Chelsey booked roles in 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 major highlight 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 the 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 Group 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 made 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).

He continues to work on his Skate Like a Girl feature film script, booked a role on Mayday(2024) as the pilot of Sriwijaya Flight 182 and completed the first draft of a new feature film, Uncle Hockey. On January 5th, 2024 Chelsey and his family celebrated having their first child, Sunny Mark.

INDIGENOUS ANCESTRY

Métis

SELF-IDENTIFICATION

Metis/he-him