Alumnus Profile: Everett Kelsey ’84

Everett Kelsey ’84 is no stranger to the hustle and bustle after growing up in New York City. With a keen focus on pursuing his passions, Everett’s dyslexia does not slow him down but instead gives him the strength to work harder.

That was not always the case. Everett says he hated going to school as a child and was intimidated by the idea of it. “I remember telling my mother in the first grade that I wasn’t ready for school,” he says. “I was really scared of school.”

His teachers at the Saint Thomas Choir School, a boarding choir elementary school in New York City, recognized that he might have a learning difference. “The teachers noticed certain things with my work that indicated dyslexia,” he says. Testing confirmed that his profile was consistent with dyslexia. Everett applied to several high schools suitable for dyslexic students and was accepted to all of them. He ultimately landed at Forman School, due in part to his school interview where two girls gave him a campus tour.

“I was coming from an all-boys choir school … [Ms. Halsey, who organized the tour,] couldn’t have been more brilliant,” Everett recalls with a laugh. “I couldn’t wait to come to the Forman School.”

At Forman, he appreciated learning one-on-one with his teachers, especially in Language Training (LT) class. “I had Ms. Lambert, she was an angel,” he says. “It was beyond just being taught, there was a certain personalization of it that was really wonderful for me.”

Everett says he tended to be an overachiever, being a New Yorker and all. He excelled at skiing, a sport he still loves; played goalie in lacrosse and soccer; and had his first opportunity to perform, a moment that changed his life.

“I always was fascinated by theater, but I never had the courage,” he says. “Also, because of my dyslexia, I didn’t think I could remember all the lines.”

After attending a performance in the dining hall starring good friend David Wallach ’83, Everett was inspired. Despite doubts, he promised himself that he would audition the next time there was an opportunity. Everett was later cast as the star of the play Pinky’s Place, which came with nothing short of “an enormous amount of lines.” He practiced often with the help of Ms. Lambert, and in the same dining hall that sparked his interest in theater, Everett performed to a room full of people, including his mother, and “crushed it.”

Everett Kelsey ’84 as a sophomore on the soccer field (photo from Forman’s 1981-82 yearbook)

“All of the times where I have to say something in public, that little boy is still in me,” says Everett. “Having the opportunity to have done that, I reflect on as a strength.”

After Forman, Everett embarked on what he calls the first of his two lives. He started college at the Florida Institute of Technology, but transferred to the College of Boca Raton’s culinary program and became a chef’s apprentice at the prestigious Boca Raton Hotel and Club in Boca Raton, FL. He would go on to the Culinary Institute of America before taking his skills international. Following a brief stint in the land development industry, Everett opened Holly Marie’s Seafood and Steak Restaurant with his thenwife in her homeland of Germany. The approachable fine dining establishment, named after Everett’s sister who passed away in a car accident when he was 15 years old, was ranked among Germany’s top restaurants.

They returned to the U.S. in 1997, and it did not take long for Everett to find his way to his second life. This next chapter would be one he had been thinking about since seeing David on stage at Forman.

“I never had the guts to go to Hollywood … I really wanted to do it,” he says. “[I eventually said] let’s go for it … we packed up the car with our dogs and drove over here 20 years ago.”

Everett still resides in California and is an actor, director, producer, writer, and published novelist. His acting career has landed him roles in film and television, including ABC’s General Hospital, NBC’s Heroes, the hit series Dinner for Five, and Anthony Hopkins’ feature Elyse.

Everett wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his own Germanlanguage film, Grosse Auge, which translates to Large Eye. Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he also wrote two screenplays that became quarter-finalists in three Oscar Award-qualifying festivals.

“One of the biggest things I learned in [LT class] was to keep myself in check. I learned to accept my dyslexia, it’s just a part of me. I think my dyslexia gives me strengths in other areas,” he says. “It makes me have to pay extra close attention to things that I think are right. I can turn a Z into an S, a 2 into a Z … so I have to doublecheck and triple-check, and in the midst of doing that, I think it helps make my work better.”

When he enrolled at Forman, Everett was the only Black student and one of two when he graduated. Today, Everett is influenced by his late grandfather, Rev. Dr. George Kelsey, to give the world a new perspective through his work. Dr. Kelsey, an educator and theologian, convinced Martin Luther King Jr., his former student, to dedicate his life to becoming the civil rights leader we know today.

“I found that with what’s going on right now in the world, specifically in the United States, I think art can save us,” Everett says. “If you can write a compelling story and put the right characters with the right human struggle, you can pull people together.” He has launched a multi-cultural streaming company called BLKMKT Media™ and an organization aimed at raising awareness within the Black community of its impact in the arts called Black Art Matters™. Everett is working hard to get others invested in the success of his endeavors as his teachers, like Ms. Lambert, were invested in his success at Forman.

“You have these instructors at your fingertips,” he advises current students. “Discover, discover, discover, and never be afraid of exploring what you potentially might be interested in because that might turn into your life’s quest.”

Everett Kelsey ’84