Chelah grew up in the Vancouver community of Kitsilano. At eighteen, by way of modeling, Chelah appeared in a couple of locally shot TV shows and commercials before packing her bags and moving to the Caribbean for a year. Upon returning home to Canada, she took the long route back to acting—restaurant management, interior design, creative director of a magazine, event production, voice agent—until finally returning to acting in 2002. She committed herself to full-fledged study of her chosen craft at Lyric School of Acting. She has since appeared in multiple films, television movies, TV series & over 75 commercials.