Karen Chilton
- Actress
- Writer
KAREN CHILTON is a New York-based Writer-Actor. A native of Chicago's South Side, Ms. Chilton received her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing at NYU-Tisch School of the Arts, and a B.S. degree in Economics from Bradley University. She has extensive musical training from The Chicago Conservatory of Music in classical piano.
Her dramatic writing credits include: AFRODISIAC, a Finalist for the 2020 Goldberg Prize; HEIRLOOM (Semi-Finalist O'Neill Nat'l Playwrights Conference 2019); CONVERGENCE (Winner of the New Professional Theatre's Writers Festival). She wrote and performed the libretto for THE SOUL NOW SINGS in collaboration with pianist Damien Sneed, produced by NPR-New York Public Radio (WNYC) in The Greene Space. Her short plays have been produced in the Obie award-winning theater festivals 48 Hours In Harlem and The Fire This Time. She is the recipient of the 2020-2021 Liberation Theatre's Playwriting Fellowship. Her one-act play, BROTHERMINE is currently in development with Plowshares Theatre (Detroit). Her solo performance piece entitled, SAYING GRACE was produced in the Women of Color Theater Festival at Henry Street Settlement in NYC. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed biography of jazz pianist HAZEL SCOTT: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC (University of Michigan Press) which she recently adapted for the screen. She also is the co-author of the jazz memoir of legendary vocalist Gloria Lynne, I WISH YOU LOVE (St. Martin's Press).
Ms. Chilton's acting credits include the New York stage, episodic television as well as featured roles in numerous independent films. She had a supporting role in the award-winning film, HALF NELSON, directed by Ryan Fleck and starring Ryan Gosling. Her performance garnered outstanding reviews in the U.S. and abroad. She was also a principal in the short film version of that feature, GOWANUS, BROOKLYN, winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Jury Prize. For her lead role in the film short, STRUGGLE, she received New York Magazine's "First Run Film Festival" Craft Award for Acting. The film is based on the 1970s police interrogation of black civil rights activist, Assata Shakur; it was also screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and has won numerous indie film awards.
An accomplished voiceover artist and narrator, her voice can be heard on numerous national TV/radio ad campaigns. She recently received the 2020 Audie Award for Nonfiction Narration of GRACE WILL LEAD US HOME: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes (Audiofile Earphones Award); THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander, and I'VE GOT A HOME IN GLORY LAND by Karolyn Smardz Frost (Audiofile Earphones Award Winner).
Her affiliations include membership in the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), Actors Equity Association (AEA), The Dramatists Guild, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), The Toni Morrison Society, and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT).
Her dramatic writing credits include: AFRODISIAC, a Finalist for the 2020 Goldberg Prize; HEIRLOOM (Semi-Finalist O'Neill Nat'l Playwrights Conference 2019); CONVERGENCE (Winner of the New Professional Theatre's Writers Festival). She wrote and performed the libretto for THE SOUL NOW SINGS in collaboration with pianist Damien Sneed, produced by NPR-New York Public Radio (WNYC) in The Greene Space. Her short plays have been produced in the Obie award-winning theater festivals 48 Hours In Harlem and The Fire This Time. She is the recipient of the 2020-2021 Liberation Theatre's Playwriting Fellowship. Her one-act play, BROTHERMINE is currently in development with Plowshares Theatre (Detroit). Her solo performance piece entitled, SAYING GRACE was produced in the Women of Color Theater Festival at Henry Street Settlement in NYC. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed biography of jazz pianist HAZEL SCOTT: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC (University of Michigan Press) which she recently adapted for the screen. She also is the co-author of the jazz memoir of legendary vocalist Gloria Lynne, I WISH YOU LOVE (St. Martin's Press).
Ms. Chilton's acting credits include the New York stage, episodic television as well as featured roles in numerous independent films. She had a supporting role in the award-winning film, HALF NELSON, directed by Ryan Fleck and starring Ryan Gosling. Her performance garnered outstanding reviews in the U.S. and abroad. She was also a principal in the short film version of that feature, GOWANUS, BROOKLYN, winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Jury Prize. For her lead role in the film short, STRUGGLE, she received New York Magazine's "First Run Film Festival" Craft Award for Acting. The film is based on the 1970s police interrogation of black civil rights activist, Assata Shakur; it was also screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and has won numerous indie film awards.
An accomplished voiceover artist and narrator, her voice can be heard on numerous national TV/radio ad campaigns. She recently received the 2020 Audie Award for Nonfiction Narration of GRACE WILL LEAD US HOME: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes (Audiofile Earphones Award); THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander, and I'VE GOT A HOME IN GLORY LAND by Karolyn Smardz Frost (Audiofile Earphones Award Winner).
Her affiliations include membership in the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), Actors Equity Association (AEA), The Dramatists Guild, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), The Toni Morrison Society, and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT).
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