Biography

Chelah is most well known for her work as Helen Smith on Amazon's The Man In The High Castle, for which she's been oft nominated and was awarded the Leo in 2017 and 2020. Chelah's earlier life saw her working a variety of jobs from restaurants to interior design to event production, while travelling extensively throughout her twenties. She came to acting later than most, making it her sole focus and career at the age of 28. Under the banner of her company, Phoebe Films, Chelah is currently producing a documentary about her father, Canadian folk legend Valdy, developing both a short and feature that she's penned, and continues to contribute whatever she is able to other budding filmmakers. She also places great importance in mentoring younger female actors to empower them moving forward in a sometimes difficult industry. Chelah works passionately to raise both money and awareness for animal welfare.
- IMDb mini biography by: Natasha Trisko Pezzente

Her paintings & still photography have raised money at auction for various charitable organizations.

Daughter of legendary Canadian folk singer Valdy by Lindsay Whalen.

Opting to use a reusable container she never consumes bottled water on set.

She is a member of UBCP/ACTRA.

Has worked commercially under the direction of Tony Kaye.

It's become more and more important to me, and more and more important to all of us to impress upon women how powerful it can be when they all support each other, and when we all collectively move away from the hyper over sexualization and the victimhood and all of the big huge issues that we are all tackling in this industry, from pay inequity to sexual harassment - the more of us that are talking about it, and the more of us that are sharing our experiences from the beginning, the better it's going to be in the long run, and the better it's going to change. I try and spread that. I prosthelytize a little bit about this stuff whenever I can with young actresses.