Daphne Charrois Charts a Global Career from St. Albert Roots

Daphne Charrois joins our call from the middle of the ocean.

She’s working on a cruise ship, where she and her fellow castmates just opened the seven different shows—full of singing, dancing, acting, and gusto—that they do in rep for audiences on the sea. Exhausting as that may sound, Charrois seems thrilled to tackle the challenge.

“The rehearsal period is like eight weeks long, so it's less than a week per show,” she explains. “Pulling together such different pieces of art very quickly is tricky. But I think it's really fun.”

Charrois’ love of the stage has taken her all over the world, but it all began right here in St Albert. So it’s fitting that she was one of the recipients of this year’s Emerging Artist Award at the St. Albert Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts.

“I grew up going to Visionary,” she recalls. “I was always in the Rotary Festival, Kiwanis…  I was in St. Albert. It was really special to come home and receive such a high award from the community and the people that made this dream possible.”

Born and raised in Legal, Alberta, her parents quickly noticed a love of performing, and encouraged her to explore that passion. But she didn’t always think she’d get to do it full time.

“It kinda snowballed,” she recalls. “For a long time, it was something I thought would be just a fun hobby—I didn't really think it was something you could actually do as a career. It transitioned for me in high school where I started realizing that this was actually something viable I could do as a job.”

Once she found her calling, that was that: at 18, Charrois went off to New York City to attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, which helped her grow into the performer she is today.

“It connected me with so many working individuals,” she says. “Teachers of mine who were also on Broadway every evening.”

Charrois has also more recently added playwright to her multi-hyphenate title: she’s written two musicals, The Spotlight’s Shadow and Fool’s Gold, both of which have had runs at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.

She’s found creating her own material to be a gratifying dimension of art to explore.

“When I started realizing that I didn't have to wait for opportunities to find me, that was kind of life-changing,” she says. “It's part of the reason I've been as lucky as I have been to stay busy: when there's a lull, that's when I'll work on my own stuff. I'll write my own work or my own music or my own plays, because then I'm still creating. That's been really fulfilling.”

And while Charrois is never quite sure where her career will take her next, she’ll be back in Alberta in the spring, performing in Come From Away at the Citadel Theatre.

“After that, I don’t know yet,” she laughs. “We'll see.”

More information about Daphne Charrois, and the St. Albert Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, can be found at stalbert.ca/cosa/news/highlights/mcoa-winners-2026/.

Article written by Paul Blinov

- 30 -