Chanelle Peloso
Chanelle Harquail-Ivsak (née Peloso; born January 21, 1994) is a Canadian actress specializing in television and film roles, primarily in drama and youth-oriented productions.[1] Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, she initiated her career with appearances in Disney Channel films such as Zapped (2014) and Radio Rebel (2012), alongside Cartoon Network series like Level Up (2012–2013).[2] Her breakthrough came with the role of Hailey Yarner in The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (2018–2019), earning a 2019 Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.[3] Additional credits include Sacred Lies (2018–2020) as Harper, voice work in animated features like Barbie and the Secret Door (2014), and the holiday film A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019).[1] In 2023, she married actress Kate Harquail.[1]Early life
Upbringing and initial interests
Chanelle Peloso was born on January 21, 1994, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[4][5] Publicly available information on her family background and childhood remains sparse, with no detailed accounts of her parents, siblings, or specific formative experiences beyond her Canadian upbringing in Vancouver.[6] Peloso's early interests centered on gymnastics, in which she received training that facilitated her entry into the entertainment industry.[4][7] This background enabled her to secure her first acting role in a commercial for Gymnastics Barbie, an experience that prompted her to pursue acting further.[4] No verified records indicate prior formal involvement in performing arts or other hobbies during her youth, though her gymnastic skills suggest an initial aptitude for physical performance disciplines.[7]Career
Early roles and breakthrough
Peloso entered the acting industry as a teenager, securing her debut role in 2012 as Natalie, a suspicious overachiever in the Cartoon Network live-action/animated series Level Up. She auditioned for a one-line part but impressed producers sufficiently to land a recurring supporting position across the show's episodes.[8] [9] Later that year, she joined the main cast of Cartoon Network's sketch comedy series Incredible Crew, portraying various characters in its 13-episode run from February 2012 to April 2013, which focused on improvisational humor and youth-oriented sketches. This exposure in variety formats honed her comedic timing and on-camera presence amid ensemble performances.[10] [11] By 2014, Peloso shifted toward scripted narrative roles, achieving an early breakthrough with her supporting turn as Rachel in the Disney Channel Original Movie Zapped, a fantasy-comedy about a teen using a phone app to control boys, which aired to an estimated audience of over 3.4 million viewers on premiere. This project marked increased visibility through Disney's teen demographic, transitioning her from sketch work to structured genre storytelling.[12] [13]Television prominence
Peloso portrayed Hailey Yarner, a brilliant young mechanical engineer and codebreaker, in the 2018 series The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, set in post-World War II 1956 San Francisco.[14] [15] Yarner, who fled the restrictive Canadian prairies at age sixteen, contributes her analytical prowess and unfiltered perspective to a team of female cryptographers—led by characters played by Rachael Stirling and Julie Graham—solving murders through pattern recognition and decryption techniques reminiscent of their wartime efforts at Bletchley Park.[16] [17] The ten-episode production, filmed primarily in Vancouver, premiered on BritBox in the United States on July 26, 2018, emphasizing ensemble-driven investigations into deceit and hidden codes within a mid-20th-century American context.[18] Critical commentary on Peloso's Yarner highlighted her dynamic integration into the group, describing the character as possessing a "heart and humanity" that Peloso conveyed effectively, allowing her to "stand out" and match the intensity of veteran co-stars in dramatic sequences.[8] This role showcased Peloso's ability to embody a resourceful underdog whose engineering background drives plot advancements, such as decoding evidence in high-stakes cases, contributing to the series' focus on intellectual problem-solving over action-oriented tropes. In Sacred Lies (2018), Peloso played Rose Matthews in six episodes of the Facebook Watch drama, adapted from Stephanie Oakes' novel The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly.[19] Matthews, a trailer-park teenager fascinated by comic books, initially resists recruitment into a rigid religious cult, evolving through arcs of defiance and coerced conformity amid themes of isolation and psychological manipulation.[20] The production context involved exploring cult escape narratives, with Peloso's character arc tracing rebellion against patriarchal controls to a more subdued adherence, grounded in the series' examination of faith-based coercion. These performances in Sacred Lies, streamed digitally from July 2018, underscored Peloso's versatility in portraying youth navigating institutional pressures, broadening her exposure on platforms prioritizing serialized, character-focused storytelling.[21]Film and voice work
Peloso portrayed Pandy in the 2015 independent horror film The Unspoken, directed by Sheldon Wilson, where her character serves as the girlfriend to the protagonist investigating a house linked to a family's unexplained 1997 disappearance and subsequent supernatural disturbances.[22] The low-budget production, which premiered at Film4 FrightFest on October 24, 2015, emphasized atmospheric tension over large-scale effects, co-starring Jodelle Ferland and Lochlyn Munro.[23] In the 2016 independent action-horror Like Lambs, written and directed by Ted Marcus, Peloso played Dahlia Fitzpatrick, a student at an elite academy amid an economic apocalypse, as the group enacts an anarchist scheme to seize control.[24] The film, which debuted at the Atlanta Film Festival, featured a modest ensemble including Liam Aiken, Justin Chon, and Connor Paolo, highlighting themes of youthful rebellion in a resource-scarce setting without reliance on major studio backing.[25] Peloso took on the supporting role of Grace Decker, one of the stepsisters, in the 2019 direct-to-video teen musical A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish, directed by Michelle Johnston as the sixth installment in the franchise.[26] Produced on a contained scale with a focus on holiday themes and original songs, the film starred Laura Marano as the aspiring singer protagonist working at a Christmas lot, emphasizing family dynamics over expansive cinematic spectacle. Her voice work includes Romy, a mermaid ally to the shy Princess Alexa in the 2014 animated feature Barbie and the Secret Door, contributing to the film's whimsical narrative of magical discovery in a hidden realm.[27] This direct-to-video entry in the Barbie series, featuring limited animation and fantasy elements, paired her performance with voices by Kelly Sheridan and Ashleigh Ball, prioritizing character-driven adventure for young audiences.Personal life
Relationships and marriage
Peloso has publicly identified as a lesbian. In 2021, she became engaged to Kate Harquail, a musician and producer.[28] The couple married on May 20, 2023.[1] Peloso announced the marriage publicly on October 7, 2023.[1]Awards and nominations
Canadian Screen Awards recognition
Peloso received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her portrayal of Hailey Yarner in the series The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco.[3] The awards, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, recognize excellence in Canadian-produced content from the prior year, with this category specifically honoring standout supporting performances in scripted drama series based on peer nominations and jury evaluation of acting craft, narrative contribution, and production quality. Her nomination placed her among competitors including Mackenzie Porter for Travelers, though the award went to Geraldine James for Anne with an E. To date, this remains Peloso's sole Canadian Screen Awards recognition, with no wins or additional nominations recorded in official tallies through 2025.[29]Filmography
Film roles
- Radio Rebel (2012) as Neckbrace Girl.[30]
- Zapped (2014) as Rachel.[31]
- Barbie and the Secret Door (2014) as Romy (voice).[2]
- The Unspoken (2015) as supporting role.[22]
- A Time to Dance (2016) as Nicole Reynolds.[32]
- A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019) as Tilly (voice).[33]
- Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story (2020) as Ashley.[34]
- The Journey Ahead (2022) as Katie.
Television appearances
Peloso's television credits encompass TV movies, guest spots, and series roles across platforms including The CW, Netflix, and Lifetime.- 2014: Zapped (Disney Channel TV movie) as Rachel.[31]
- 2017: Supernatural (The CW series) as Ronson in the episode "Patience" (season 13, episode 3).[35]
- 2018: Sacred Lies (Facebook Watch series) as Rose Matthews across 6 episodes.[19]
- 2018: The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (ITV and BritBox series) as Hailey Yarner in all 8 episodes of the season.[36]
- 2018: No One Would Tell (Lifetime TV movie) as Nikki.[13]
- 2020: Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story (Lifetime TV movie) as Ashley.[34]
- 2022: Under the Banner of Heaven (FX on Hulu miniseries) as Debbie.[37]
- 2023: A Million Little Things (ABC series) as Celeste in 1 episode ("A Bird in the Hand").
- 2025: Happy Face (series) as Adele in 2 episodes.[38]