Chelsea Thaler is an actor, director/choreographer, filmmaker, dancer, physical theater artist, and educator. Her work lies at the intersection of performance, devising, film, clown, dance theater, and the creation of new works of ensemble theater. She has created theater and performed Off-Broadway in NYC, at regional theaters, at fringe festivals, and venues including: LaMaMa ETC, The Kennedy Center, United Solo Festival, Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, Synetic Theatre, Source Festival, Capital Fringe Festival, Keegan Theater, Theater J, Philadelphia Fringe Festival/Cannonball, Imagination Stage, The Voxel, and has performed internationally in Paris and Edinburgh. Awards: Helen Hayes Award for Best Ensemble in The Wolves at Studio Theater, Nominee for Best Ensemble in Island of Dr. Moreau at Synetic Theater. She’s been on screen in commercials, short films, and TV shows on Investigation Discovery, CBS, and Amazon Prime Video.

Training: Stella Adler Acting School, SITI Company in NYC, Viewpoints with Mary Overlie, and École Philippe Gaulier in France. Education: MFA, Devised Performance from University of the Arts/Pig Iron Theater School; BA, American University; Certificate in Acting from the Moscow Art Theater School/NTI in Moscow, Russia. She has taught acting, devising, improvisation, and movement for actors at University of Mary Washington, University of the Arts, American University, and Duke University, where she was the 2025-2026 Artist in Residence in Duke’s Theater Studies department and devised an original clown-dance theater adaptation of Three Sisters with the students. She is a member of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) .