Chelsea Clark
A Storyteller in Full Voice
By Jane Stevens
Chelsea Clark is quickly becoming one of the most compelling young talents in the entertainment world. A Canadian actress, writer, producer, and musician, she is best known for her roles as Esme Song in Degrassi: Next Class and Norah in Netflix’s hit series Ginny & Georgia. What sets Chelsea apart is not just her performance ability but the multidimensional way she approaches storytelling. From classical opera training to co-writing and producing inclusive narratives, Chelsea Clark represents a new generation of artists who are not content to simply play roles but are actively shaping them.
Chelsea’s journey began almost as soon as she could walk. From the age of two, she was immersed in the world of performance through the Expressions Theatre Company. Her early training included musical theatre, ballet, gymnastics, and opera. She took the stage in productions like Legally Blonde and Aladdin, and participated in operas such as Carmen and La Bohème.
These formative experiences taught her not only vocal discipline and presence but also how to inhabit emotional complexity. These lessons would soon prove invaluable as she transitioned to screen acting.
Her pivot to television came during a musical theatre master class, when her agent encouraged her to audition for TV roles. That leap of faith paid off when she booked early appearances in Rookie Blue and Life with Boys. Her talent caught the attention of casting directors, leading to more consistent work and eventually to her defining role as Esme Song in Degrassi: Next Class. Esme was a character that demanded depth, ambiguity, and transformation across four seasons. Chelsea embraced the opportunity to play someone complex, flawed, and fully human.
With Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia, Chelsea stepped into a different kind of ensemble. Her portrayal of Norah brought her into a narrative about friendship, identity, and emotional resilience. The show, which has amassed nearly a billion hours of viewing time across its first two seasons, gave Chelsea a platform to explore representation more intimately. Norah’s experiences navigating belonging and expectation mirrored Chelsea’s own journey growing up as a Filipino-Canadian woman. These parallels infused the role with honesty and heart.
In EZRA, Chelsea took on new challenges behind the scenes. Not only did she star as Kylo, a fierce and confident character, but she also participated in the writing process. She shaped her character’s Filipina identity with intention, steering away from tokenism and ensuring that the portrayal reflected authentic cultural nuance. For Chelsea, it was a breakthrough moment. She found power in telling her own stories, and discovered the importance of controlling narratives that reflect her community.
Her perfectionism and work ethic are evident in every role she plays. Years of conservatory acting training and classical arts education, combined with a university education completed with highest honors, have instilled in her a deep respect for the process of creation. She approaches each project with discipline, preparation, and a drive for excellence. Whether she is delivering lines in a Netflix series or rehearsing for a stage play, Chelsea commits fully to her craft.
Identity has been a powerful thread in her work. Growing up biracial meant constantly navigating different cultural expectations. Chelsea has often spoken about the internal and external pressures to belong, and how those experiences informed her portrayals of characters who are also finding their place. In both Ginny & Georgia and EZRA, she channels that lived truth into characters who are richly layered, never defined solely by ethnicity but shaped by it in meaningful ways.
What stands out most about Chelsea’s path is the strength of the creative communities she builds. On the set of Ginny & Georgia, the female cast formed a bond that mirrored the relationships onscreen. That real-world support system helped create a space where vulnerability, creativity, and collaboration could thrive. In EZRA, she worked alongside queer and BIPOC creatives to produce a story that felt bold, inclusive, and necessary. These experiences have solidified her desire to keep creating safe, empowering environments for future projects.
Looking ahead, Chelsea has multiple projects in development. She is currently performing in Wombmates, a two-person play she co-developed. She is also producing a short film and collaborating on a feature. Her dream is to lead in a comedy or dramedy that captures the wit, flaws, and resilience of women navigating their own paths. Her voice as a writer continues to evolve alongside her work as a performer, signaling that the future will hold even more self-driven storytelling.
Chelsea’s philosophy is rooted in authenticity. Acting is not simply a career choice but a calling. She urges emerging artists to commit only if they cannot imagine doing anything else.
That level of devotion requires sacrifice, but it also creates space for truth. For Chelsea, truth in performance begins with discipline, integrity, and relentless curiosity. Chelsea Clark is a dynamic force in modern entertainment. She is not just acting, she is authoring her own narrative and inviting others to do the same. Her work is a testament to the power of representation, the importance of craft, and the possibility of building spaces where stories reflect real lives in all their complexity. Whether she is captivating audiences on Netflix, writing heartfelt scripts, or producing content that speaks to a new generation, Chelsea Clark continues to grow as both an artist and an advocate. Her story is far from finished and it promises to inspire many more to come.
