Sheryl Carbonell is an actress, singer and music educator, born and raised in Windsor Ontario, Canada by Jamaican parents who lived for a time in London England, as a part of the 'Windrush Generation'.
Sheryl knew early on that she would be a singer and actress. She started singing and playing piano at age 7, and singing solos by age 8. She landed her first staged role at age 12 portraying the orphan July, in the musical 'Annie' at the Windsor Light Opera. The director and company members were delighted by her audition and wanted to cast her as Annie, but at that time, no child of colour ever portrayed the role of the iconic red-headed girl.
The incident stayed with Sheryl, giving her strength to overcome cultural and racial obstacles she encountered after moving to the United States to complete high school and attend college. Second-guessing her dream of being a performer, Sheryl at first focused solely on Music Education at the University of Central Florida, as her college major, but soon after, she added a vocal performance degree. Her choice paid off; her college professor introduced her to the Orlando Opera Company, giving Sheryl the best of both of her worlds, teaching music by day and performing opera by night.
After singing with Orlando Opera's ensemble and sharing the stage with opera icons including Sherrill Milnes, and Denyce Graves, Sheryl landed her first principal operatic role in 'The Magic Flute' before the opera company officially closed its doors.
The opera company's closing occurred at a pivotal moment in Sheryl's career. She had just given birth to her first-born son and left teaching. With no artistic outlet, Sheryl decided it was time to dive into the study of acting. Never before had she broken down the process, she'd only figured it out on her own while performing in the opera, not really knowing how and why certain scenes worked better than others.
Since her decision to study the craft, Sheryl has been in national commercials for clients including Honda Financial, HSN, KitchenAid, and Zaxby's, and hosted 14-plus episodes on MSN.com's streaming show, 'Mom's Homeroom', taking her across the US, writing her own stories and interviewing arts and physical education innovators with outstanding educational programs for youth.
Sheryl also performed iconic theatre roles including Shakespeare's Cleopatra, opposite Michael Dorn, (aka Worf of Star Trek), Ruth Younger of 'A Raisin in the Sun' with a private workshop taught by Kenny Leon (who directed the Broadway play and movie), and Rose Maxson in 'Fences', which earned her a best actress nomination in the Orlando Sentinel.
Sheryl's growing television and film resume is evident in her IMDb credits. Stay tuned for more, as her production company, Creativeology Music and Film LLC, is producing films including a documentary series that she is also directing.