EVERETT KELSEY
Fascinated in man’s inner struggles, Everett tries to identify his characters’ strengths, and shortcomings, searching to see where his path and his character’s cross. When studying how long they share the same path, he examines where they separate, how far apart they drift, making an enormous effort to do so without judgment. His passion in dissecting his characters this way becomes visible in his mysterious, charismatic, stage, and screen presence, both touching, dangerous, and sometimes disturbing. Rather then being presentational in his acting, it’s his sensitivity, and expression of subtext through behavior, what touches the primal nerve we avoid confronting in everyday life. Everett is a subtle actor, fixated on his acting being truthful, and real, who purges his soul, and exposes a mélange of beauty and demons.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Everett was three the day after his thirty-one year old father died. A few months earlier, the Kelsey family had returned to New York City after living in Paris, France. Everett spent the early half of his childhood in Manhattan and attended the Saint Thomas Choir School of Saint Thomas Church which introduced him to the arts. The later half was spent in Litchfield, Connecticut. During his high school years, Everett discovered the stage and his passion for acting. At that time he was also dealt a devastating blow when his only sibling, Holly, was killed in an automobile accident at the age of twenty-four. Everett and Holly were very close. He was fifteen at the time of her death and admits he has never gotten over it. “Sometimes I still hear my grandfather say, ‘I will pray for you son,’ and remember how I’ve blown through life like a tornado.” Everett’s grandfather was Dr. George D. Kelsey: author, scholar, and professor of Christian Ethics at Drew University, Princeton, and Columbia. Dr. Kelsey received his Doctor of Philosophy Degree at Yale University. Among his outstanding students at Morehouse College, Dr. Kelsey was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Everett’s first film break was in Florida while attending college when he was cast in Chuck Norris’ martial arts action film Invasion USA. However, because of being on academic probation he couldn’t accept the role. Everett moved to Germany for many years where he became fluent in German. Once back in New York City he concentrated on studying his craft and auditioning. In December 2000 after doing small theatre, he and wife Sabina moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan, to pursue Everett’s film career with focus and intensity. Once in LA, Everett immediately took a job waiting tables and enrolled in the Howard Fine Acting Studio before quickly finding himself on the set of General Hospital. After studying with Howard Fine, Everett continued his training at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Within those rooms he learned to channel and exploit painful life experiences and self-destructive behavior, transforming them into art.
An additional source of balance for Everett is martial arts. At the age of 9, Everett’s Uncle Glenn introduced him to the Korean martial art form Tae Kwon Do, by enrolling him into Master Y.J. Chang’s studio in Manhattan, New York. Now in Los Angeles, Everett switched to Shorinjiryu Karate-Do, (a full contact Japanese martial art form from Okinawa) and began a long and intensive training with Kyoshi Michael Laurin, reinventing himself as a martial artist. Kyoshi Laurin is an eighth degree black belt who is a six-time consecutive world champion. Everett saw how much the Shorinjiryu art form had to complement his knowledge of Tae Kwon Do, and decided to continue studying different martial art forms in order to broaden himself as a martial artist. Everett joined the Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts after being introduced with the opportunity to study several different martial art forms under one roof personally taught by legendary Guro Dan Inosanto. Everett continues to broaden himself as a martial artist studying such arts as: Muay Thai, Mixed Martial Arts, Indonesian Pencak Silat, Maphilindo Silat, Madjapahit Martial Arts, Jeet Kuen Do, and Filipino Martial Arts. Guro Dan Inosanto was personally chosen by Bruce Lee to carry on the concepts and philosophy of Jeet Kuen Do. He was one of the only three persons ever to be certified by Bruce Lee to teach and is a world authority in Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kuen Do Concepts and Filipino martial arts.
Before his nomination in the 2007 Hollywood Black Film Festival category, BLACK MEN IN FILM, where he wore two hats as actor / producer in his film SLEEPER, Everett Kelsey has been seen in notable appearances on General Hospital, and starring across Christine Taylor in The First Year's A Bitch. During the development process of experimenting with different ULAR SENDUK story lines, the short film, Sleeper was created, which marked Everett’s ORGANIC POLYESTER Productions first completed project. The hauntingly beautiful, hypnotic martial arts short, SUNSET then followed. Ular Senduk is the first novel of a series, setting the platform for its sequel presently in development.
Everett and Sabina live in Los Angeles, California, and Bonn, Germany.
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