Angelique Chase is living her dream. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart, Matt, and the two have an infant son, Malone. She also just completed her fourth film, which recently aired on the Lifetime Network.
Chase, whose dad was in the Air Force, was born in Iceland and lived in England, North Dakota, and California, before moving to Stilson at the age of 12, when her father retired from the military.
“We moved here when my dad retired because this is where my mom grew up,” Chase says.
Chase and her husband graduated from Southeast Bulloch High School, and Chase went to Georgia Southern where she majored in Child Development. She put her degree to immediate use when she started working for the Child Development Center, now the Family Life Center at Georgia Southern.
“I left teaching in 2006. Though it was my dream job, I felt God was leading me in another direction,” Chase says.
That path would lead to a career very different than the one Chase first envisioned.
“I had never had a prior interest in acting. Never even thought about it. After I left the CDC, I worked with my husband at his local t-shirt printing business, harvilleDesign, for about a year while I pondered," Chase shared. "He heard about a local acting class and told me I should try it. I went and fell in love. I started auditioning for student SCAD short films."
She continued, "I booked my first one called Unfailing Grace where I met Chip Lane, another local actor and filmmaker. He owned First City Films in Savannah. As he taught me the acting and filmmaking ropes, I began organizing fundraisers for a film he’d written. In turn, I was learning how to produce. We produced and shot Untouched in 2011. It’s a Lifetime-esque crime drama that beautifully showcases Savannah.”
The film, which is currently streaming for free on Tubi and Roku and for rent on Amazon, allowed Chase to learn a new role in addition to her part as a news anchor in Untouched: first assistant director.
“The First Assistant Director is the scheduler and organizer in a film. I make sure the film gets done safely and on time. Working on both sides of the camera allows for me to stay more active in the industry,” Chase says.
This prepared Chase for more projects such as The Glorias, Killing Winston Jones, and Killer Cover Up.
“The Glorias was my first big budget film. I was so excited to have that small role. I only worked one day but got to work with Julianne Moore," Chase shared. "She was so friendly. Killing Winston Jones was a smaller budget but was great fun working with Joel David Moore (Dodgeball, Avatar) and Jon Heder (Napolean Dynamite).”
Chase also expanded her theatrical resume by co-writing a screenplay with Lane.
“A Smile Beneath, [a story about] parents battling the strains of raising a child with autism, discover the purpose of family through a caddie grieving the loss of his, was inspired by a novella brought to us by Jeff Wood who wrote it with his sister. He asked us to write a script,” Chase recalls. “I found it quite a blessing to be able to use my child development background. The script has won numerous awards and we hope to see it filmed in the near future.”
“Killer Cover Up was another one-day shoot for my role but was worth it because it was the same crew that came back and shot My Wife’s Hidden Lover. It is always a great pat on the back when you’re asked to audition again for the same group. And even better when they grant you another role, this time for a 5-day shoot in a supporting role!” Chase says. “This role was my first time back on set after having a baby. I felt a little nervous but the lead, Abigail Hawk (Blue Bloods) was so incredibly supportive and encouraging. She’d had someone who’d supported her after she returned to set postpartum and was happy to pay it forward. I can’t wait to do the same. I’m forever grateful to her.”
Chase won the role of the supporting cast member named Paula in My Wife’s Hidden Lover, just as she was coming off of maternity leave. The movie, a thriller about a wife whose lover is found dead in her home, premiered on Lifetime at 8:00 PM on December 28, 2023.
“I usually audition at our studio, First City Films, in Savannah, but I’d been home on maternity leave, so I recorded at home. It was harder to focus to memorize the lines with my baby brain but was a good challenge and felt great to be acting again,” Chase says.
Fortunately, shooting took place in nearby Savannah since it was Chase’s first time away from her newborn son. The filming experience, described as “another blessing” by Chase, was an organized and comfortable one, as it was the second time Chase worked with director Damian Romay.
During the evolution of her busy acting, directing, and writing career, Chase joined Lane as a co-owner of First City Films in 2009. The creative duo have ideas galore and projects in all stages of development, including a film that will captivate children and families.
“I am super excited to hear any day now where our next film is going to be released. Chip and I took on an impossible mission of creating and producing a stop-motion, children’s sci-fi film,” Chase says.
The film, Inventors, is about a stubborn inventor who risks all in his pursuit of winning and boasts an all-star ensemble.
“We were exceptionally blessed to have actors Eric Close (American Sniper, Without A Trace), Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day), Tony Todd (Candyman, The Rock), and JuJu Chan Szeto, a great leading actress in Hong Kong, (Wu Assassins) join the cast of voices,” Chase says. “We know families are going to love it.”
Chase is currently enjoying her favorite leading roles as wife and mother as she prepares for a promising 2024.
“I am still auditioning and feeling very optimistic about the upcoming year,” Chase says. “The great thing about acting and filmmaking is there’s always more to master. I love the challenge of the ‘what’s next?”
For more information about Angelique Chase, please visit https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3923005/. For more information on My Wife’s Hidden Lover, please visit https://www.mylifetime.com/movies/my-wifes-hidden-lover. For more information about First City Films, please visit https://www.firstcityfilms.com/.
