ChelsiePreston Crayford
- Director
- Actor
By the time she'd graduated from drama school Toi Whakaari, Chelsie Preston Crayford had won an award for acclaimed short Fog and acted in three features, including a starring role in Home by Christmas as her own grandmother. She has remained a recognisable face in New Zealand film and television ever since. Her feature film directorial debut Caterpillar was released in 2026 to immediate acclaim. Sometimes credited as Chelsie Florence, she is the daughter of director Gaylene Preston and musician Jonathan Crayford.
Biography
In early 2026, Chelsie Preston Crayford was simultaneously acting as the protagonist in an international television series, promoting her feature film directorial debut, and nursing her new baby. In the middle of a six-month shoot in Queenstown for the second season of A Remarkable Place to Die, and with less than a month off to travel the country for premiere screenings of Caterpillar, it stood as a hard time to care for a three-month-old. "I don't recommend it," she notes, "in some ways, you've got to be careful what you wish for."
Screenography
Awards
2024 New Zealand Television Awards / Ngā Taonga Whakaata O Aotearoa
Nominated for Best Actress: For Dark City: The Cleaner
2022 New Zealand Television Awards
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress: for The Panthers
“I do feel like I've had a lifelong quest of making sure that the characters I play feel like real women — and a lot of the time, they've been written by men.”