Chelsie Preston Crayford

Chelsie Florence Preston Crayford (born 1987) is a New Zealand actress.

Preston Crayford was born in Wellington to film maker Gaylene Preston and musician Jonathan Crayford.

Apart from appearing in a water safety commercial at the age of four, her acting debut was at the age of 13 in the New Zealand-made TV series A Twist in the Tale starring William Shatner.

Preston Crayford played a guest role in the soap opera Shortland Street in 2003, and made her feature film debut in the comedy Eagle vs Shark in 2007.

Several years later, her performance in a stage production was praised by Ian McKellen, encouraging her to pursue an acting career and enrol in the Toi Whakaari national drama school from 2006 to 2008.

She graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Performing Arts.

In 2009, she played a major role in the TV series The Cult.

Since then she has appeared in an ABC TV adaptation of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, in Hope and Wire (a mini-series produced by her mother about the 2010 Canterbury earthquake), government communications advisor Sophie Walsh in the Australian techno-thriller The Code, and as the Sorceress Kaya in the third season of Ash vs Evil Dead.

In 2011, she played brothel madam Tilly Devine in the Australian crime drama Underbelly: Razor, a role for which she won the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer at the 2012 Logie Awards.