Portia Chellelynn was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She moved to Illinois in 1998, when she was only 16, and had three daughters by the age of 24. She had her first child at the age of 17. Being a young Mother, put her acting dreams on the back burner for a while. She had several part-time jobs over the years, while being a stay-at-home Mom, and slowly integrating her acting endeavors. She picked up the stage name Portia when she was a dancer from 2003-2007. Her Mom called her Chellelynn (pronounced Shell-Lin) growing up, so she used it when she started acting in film too. It's a combination of her real first and middle names, Michelle & Lynn. Portia has been a freelance model since 2003. She was an actor/dancer in a Turkey Vulture Record's heavy metal music video in 2009, for the band, Man Made Man. She worked as an actor for Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare haunted house both the 2014 & 2015 seasons, in Villa Park, Illinois. She portrayed Sheri Moon Zombie's character, "Baby", from the films, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, in the 2015 season of the haunt, in The Devil's Rejects house. She was mentioned by the Haunted House Chicago Review team in their official 2015 review of the haunt, highlighting her performance. While working there, she also got to take part in the commercial for Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare 2015. Portia's first acting role in a film, was as the lead role of Candace England (Candie), in feature length film, Candie's Harem, in Oct 2014. She "liked" on a Facebook post by Faux Pas Films, in a film group, and the director asked if she'd like to audition for the main role. Having absolutely no acting experience, other than the couple of weeks she had worked at the haunted house, she still managed to land the spot, in spite of all odds against her. She enjoys all aspects of the film industry, often helping with makeup, soundtrack coordination, special effects, location scouting, etc.. anything she can do to help with production, she will... Portia volunteers at events like Rumble for the Kids Pro-wrestling show in Princeton, Illinois, annually. She was their ring girl in 2013-2015 & she started acting as the wrestler, Frankie the Chi-Town Hitman's personal assistant, in the 2014 & 2015 shows. All proceeds from the shows go to help local children. She also volunteers at Days of the Dead horror festivals in Chicago & Indianapolis. Her debut film, Candie's Harem, is an official selection for Days of the Dead Chicago 2015 and will have it's World premiere at Chicago's Days of the Dead 48 hour Independent Film Festival, in November 2015. It's a special 90 minute festival version of the film.
