Calogero (CHARLY) Chiarelli

A Bit About Me

Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli was born in Sicily and grew up in the industrial north end of Hamilton, Ontario (where, in the 1950s there were 10,000 fellow Sicilians in one neighbourhood, all from the exact same town of Racalmuto). He skipped school to act as a family translator - dealing with major purchases and many confusing new-world bureaucrats.

Early in his career, he made his mark as a mental health professional at the most prestigious psychiatric hospital in North America (at the time), Toronto's Clark Institute of Psychiatry. He went on to become a Mental Health and Addictions Consultant with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Concurrent with this position Charly worked intermittently as a professor of psychology and composition at St. Lawrence College, in Kingston.

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In addition to Charly's employment as a health care professional, Charly has always been, and now is, exclusively an artist with the following past and present achievements. As a virtuoso harmonica player, vocalist and composer, Charly has performed with several bands and, as a studio musician, contributed to many recordings for television, radio, film and music albums.

• Founded the, internationally renowned, Toronto Storytelling Festival in 1979 - where he frequently performs as a featured guest. He has written a libretto for a symphony called The Birds Beyond, which has been performed by the Kingston and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestras. Charly also performed as the narrator of his libretto for this Symphony. (Juno Award winner John Burge collaborated with him for this work, which is for both children and adults.)

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• Charly has also created another children's work entitled Ho Ho Hum which was featured on radio for five years. This piece has been recorded by Charly as storytelling and songs and is commercially available.

• Once Upon a Pizzeria is yet another of Charly's works for children and it has been performed by him in national and international storytelling venues - and, in 2018, it was published in a book entitled, Anthology of Canadian Writing.

• Charly is widely known for writing and performing his one person plays: Cu'Fu, Mangiacake, Brutta Figura and Sunamabeach - the first three were featured on Bravo TV for twelve years. Charly also performed Cu'Fu and Mangiacake at the National Art Centre in Ottawa and at Theatre Aquarius and Hamilton Place - as well as venues across Canada and Europe.

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• He has performed in many renowned Toronto and Hamilton stages. At the Cannon Theatre in Toronto, Charly performed in a lead role of an ensemble play called Ciao Baby, based on the poetry of renowned Italian/Canadian poet and writer, Giovanna Patriarca. In Hamilton, Charly had top billing in 2000 at the Theatre Aquarius production of On Albert Street, with Chilina Kennedy - who stars in the Broadway production of the enormously successful run of the musical, Beautiful.

• Charly has also been featured in several documentaries, including one about classical composer Marjan Mozetich, (his lifelong friend and Juno recipient). For his play, Cu'Fu, Charly made the coveted cover of the Canadian Theatre Review magazine - and his play was subject to very elaborate and academic literary treatment. He has been on the cover of several magazines and featured in many newspapers and periodicals. Several universities refer to his work in the study of immigration.

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• Since 2012, Charly has performed and co-written several plays which have been performed as ensemble works at the Artword Artbar (and theatre) in Hamilton, including James Street, Scroogissimo, (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018) and Charly's Piano.

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• 2003 he was Inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Gallery of Fame.

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• 2015  | Charly Chiarelli received the Hamilton Italian Heritage Award of Distinction for Arts, Culture and Entertainment.

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• 2017 | A remount of Cu'Fu (2017. He has had several strictly music performances, including a musical role in plays at The Pearl Company and at The Gallery on the Bay. Charly has also performed in several music festivals throughout Canada and Europe.

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• 2018  |  Two of Charly's plays, Cu'Fu and Charly's Piano, were also published and distributed as books in 2018.

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• 2018, inducted into the Westdale Gallery of Fame (as were Hollywood and TV notables Martin Short and Eugene Levy).

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• 2018 | At the Italian Contemporary Film Festival of 2018, Charly received an award for "Excellence In Performance"

• 2018 | At the world renowned Taormina Film Festival of 2018, Charly and his director were recipients of an award for "Cultural and Social Relevance" as screenplay cowriters.

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• 2019 | A very formidable artistic project for him in the past four years has been starring in a feature film called    Road to the Lemon Grove, which was primarily filmed in Sicily, with a few Canadian locations. Charly is the co-writer of the screenplay with Dale Hildebrand. Dale is also the producer and director of this film and had been nominated for 3 Gemini Awards - as well as being the recipient of a Gemini Award.

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• 2019 | Charly has the lead role - with supporting roles performed by established Hollywood actors, Burt Young and Nick Mancuso. The female lead is the famous Italian Prima ballerina, actress, radio show host and model, Rossella Brescia.  A supporting female role is performed by multi award winning international recording artist, Loreena McKennitt.

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• 2020 | Road To the Leon Grove received the Comedy Award at the Edmonton International Film Festival. This feature film is destined for more significant film festivals and international distribution.

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• 2022 | BEST ACTOR (Charly Chiarelli)  Winner Soically Relevant Film Festival New York for ROAD TO THE LEMON GROVE.

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• 2022 | Charly's newest piece, Sunamabeach, was debuted at the Pearl Company in his hometown of Hamilton starting in March 2022, also directed by Ronald Weihs.

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