McKenzie Chinn
About
McKenzie Chinn McKenzie is a filmmaker, actor, and poet based in Chicago. Driven by a revolutionary sensibility, her work uses rich imagery and a deeply personal lens to explore the lives, relationships, and dreams of those who experience marginalization based on their identities, frequently returning to themes around longing and ambition, with her storytelling rooted in sensuality, everyday magic, and the beauty of the ordinary.
She is the writer, producer, and lead actor of Olympia, which premiered at the 2018 LA Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the 2019 Bentonville Film Festival, and is a 2021 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab Fellow with her next feature A Real One, currently in late development.
As an actor, her on-camera credits include guest star roles on the FOX series The Big Leap, ABC's forthcoming Will Trent, CBS’s The Red Line, and others. Onstage she has worked with Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatres, The Second City, Woolly Mammoth, and others.
Her poetry has been nominated for multiple awards including a Pushcart Prize. She is part of Growing Concerns Poetry Collective which released its second studio album BIG DARK BRIGHT FUTURES in 2020.
Her recently completed short film A Real One - the stand-alone proof-of-concept for the feature - was made possible when she became the recipient of the inaugural NBCUniversal Grant through the Bentonville Film Foundation.
