Actress Chelsea Harris speaks candidly about life in the limelight!

Actress Chelsea Harris a native of Columbus, Georgia has spent most of her youthful life in front of the cameras. Some of the TV series she is known for are Hannah Montana, Greys’ Anatomy, Modern Family, The Neighborhood, Top Gun and many more. Chelsea is currently working on the series Snowpiercer on location in Canada. I had the pleasure of speaking with her about her career in the entertainment industry.

“Around nine or ten years old my parents allowed me to enter a pageant for the first time and in that pageant, they had an acting competition where I won a scholarship to Barbizon is where the whole acting career started,” said Chelsea. Barbizon is a school of acting and modeling. From there Chelsea went to a theater camp where she fell in love with acting. Around fifteen years old Chelsea was able to convince her mother to let her do a talent search.

“I came out to LA, got an agent and a manager and literally moved to California and got started,” said Chelsea. Her first acting gig was Hannah Montana with Miley Cyrus who is a popular American singer and television personality. She also signed a contract on that same day to do Just Jordan which is a sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon as a part of the network’s TEENick line up. Even though moving from the south to the west coast was a huge cultural shock for Chelsea she quickly adjusted to her new life and her career took off.

Some of Chelsea’s goals for the future is to become a producer where she can tell more stories about the black community. “One of the things I have come to understand about putting our stories in front of the camera on bigger networks is that you have to have people who are in producing and executive positions to continue to get those green lights,” said Chelsea. She also wants to direct as well. “In the past six or seven years I have seen there have been more opportunities afforded to me by someone who is a multitude of things and platitudes. Yes, I can be sensual and sexy but I’m also intelligent, cultural and very well-traveled. I love science as much as I love beauty and fashion,” said Chelsea.

With Chelsea being so busy with acting she has learned to master the art of balancing her career and personal life by separating the two so that she may focus on what is most important in her life. Her boyfriend who she calls Ben has just celebrated four years of dating. “He’s not in the industry, that’s one way you create balance. I’m in the industry and he’s not, so I get to bring a lot of excitement to his life, and he brings an incredible force of balance into mine. So really having a great support system is the way I have stayed grounded, focused and motivated,” said Chelsea.

Chelsea has everything she needs within herself to become one of the most successful black women in the entertainment industry and to the world. Chelsea recalls a prayer that Cedric the entertainer prayed one day before going on the set that went “let us be a beacon of light, let us keep people laughing at home so we can spread the medicine of joy”. Chelsea states that prayer has continued to resonate in her spirit throughout the years and she will forever try to be a beacon of light to the world.

Written by Gloria Peebles