The Callback

Mr. Chelsey Mark is a Canadian actor, writer, filmmaker and host. He has booked 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). A major highlight was receiving one-on-one direction from Academy award winning director Jodie Foster while filming Tales from the Loop. Chelsey was selected for the Whistler Indigenous Fellowship at the Whistler Film Festival (2019) with his short The Callback. The Callback received production funding (2020) and is in post-production. During Covid-19 quarantine Chelsey solo filmed a comedy short I am Covid-19 (2020) and received funding to write the 1st draft of his feature film Skate like a Girl. Chelsey 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. Keeping up his acting craft, Chelsey rounded out 2020 with roles on Cheerleader Abduction (2020), Snow Kissed (2020) and a Covid-19 PSA for the province of Manitoba.

Chelsey Mark was born Chelsey Lee Mark on May 9th, in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. His ancestry is a mix of Chinese, Portuguese, German and Metis. 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.

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). He also produced a travel special for his Manitoban hometown A travelling We Go (2012), Jane Goodall’s Youth organization Roots and Shoots pilot music video (2009), Canada Tourism Commission TV pilot Keep Exploring (2014) and several personal promo and social media video projects. Mr. Mark 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 Centre 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 acting career: Harbin Story (2013), Chasing Love (2015), The War of 1945 (2015), Army of Descendants (2016), The Tutor (2016) and Hometown on the Cloud (2017) followed in the years after his theatre role.

In 2018, he returned home to Manitoba roots perfecting his acting craft while dedicating his time to training, grant/script writing and filming future projects. Relocating to Canada brought big rewards, with Chelsey becoming an Actra member while filming Stand! (2018) and Fatal Friend Request (2018). He 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 was selected for 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) and received funding to write the 1st draft of his feature film Skate like a Girl. He 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.

Continuing his actor craft Chelsey rounded out 2020 with roles on Cheerleader Abduction (2020), Snow Kissed (2020) and a Covid-19 PSA for the province of Manitoba. Chelsey is based in Winnipeg Manitoba.