Canadian Improv Showcase - Carmen Gillespie

Carmen Gillespie

Imagine a ten-year-old girl, wearing her mother's gingham apron and carrying a basket, skipping through a suburban neighbourhood while singing at the top of her lungs: "We're off to see the Wizard!!"

Imagine that same girl, now "grown-up", doing the same thing, and you'd have a good mental picture of Carmen.

Born and raised in Guelph, Ontario, Carmen has been a performer since she was four years old. Her mom would organize "shows" for her friends in the back yard, with puppets, songs and dancing, but stupidly didn't charge admission at the time.

A busy child, Carmen's calendar was stuffed with swimming, skating, ringette, piano lessons, and sometimes dance lessons. When she was 17 she discovered musical theatre and soon landed a small part in the local
production of "Li'l Abner" (where she met her future husband).

She moved to the GTA after she crashed an audition for a children's play in Toronto and got that role. Some of her favourite roles since then are Melissa (Love Letters), Agnes Gooch (Mame), Lina Lamont (Singin' in the Rain), The Wicked Witch (The Wizard of Oz) and skipping around Casa Loma as The Merry Fairy.

A beloved production of "Godspell" showed Carmen that improvisational skills were within her grasp, so she immediately enrolled with Second City, and completed 5 levels.

In the film and television world, she's had a line or two in the series "Twice in a Lifetime" and "Zoe Busiek: Wild Card". Short film appearances include "The Birthday", "Club Crawl" and the award-winners "The Jigsaw Puzzle" and "First Light". She's just completed her own short puppet-film "Grouchy Tiger, Hiding Dragon", and if you live in Southern Ontario you may recognize her from a local commercial for Cookstown Auto.

Now the proud mother of one (so far!) she's still very happy to be part of Canadian Improv Showcase, and would like to acknowledge her husband Alex for being so supportive, all her improv friends, and Matt for giving her the opportunity to behave like a fool where it's socially acceptable.

"Visit my website, eh!" www.carmengillespie.com