# Chelsea Muirhead
**Chelsea Muirhead** is a Filipino-Scottish Canadian actor from Toronto, known for the television series *[Warrior](https://www.edgepedia.org/warrior-tv-series)*, *Slo Pitch*, and the Netflix medical drama *[Pulse](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulse-2025-tv-series)*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) • [2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/pulse-medical-drama?inapp=true%2F) Trained at Toronto's Ryerson Theatre School, she moved from theater into film and television after graduating in 2016, with a breakout screen role as Jill in the 2020 horror-thriller *Spare Parts*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Background | Filipino-Scottish actor from Toronto, Ontario[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) |
| Training | Four years at the Ryerson Theatre School (now the Ryerson School of Performance), graduating in 2016[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) |
| Breakout screen role | Jill in the horror-thriller *Spare Parts* (2020), directed by Andrew Hunt[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) |
| Notable TV series | Yan Mi in *Warrior* (2023, 10 episodes); Sasha in *Slo Pitch* (2020–2022, 19 episodes)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) |
| Current lead role | Dr. Sophie Chan, a surgical intern, in *Pulse* (Netflix, 2025, 10 episodes)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) • [2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/pulse-medical-drama?inapp=true%2F) |
| Union | Member of ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists[3](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-on-the-sag-strikes-and-how-you-can-support-it) |
## Training
Muirhead discovered acting in high school, where she performed as Columbia in *The Rocky Horror Picture Show*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) In interviews she has said she initially planned a medical career, applying to a Bachelor of Medical Sciences program while coming from a single-mother Filipino household that steered her toward law, medicine, or nursing. Her high-school drama teacher, after watching her in a school play, urged her to audition for theater school instead.[3](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-on-the-sag-strikes-and-how-you-can-support-it)
She trained for four years at the Ryerson Theatre School, since renamed the Ryerson School of Performance, part of Toronto Metropolitan University, studying acting for both film and theater.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) She has described the conservatory program as intense: class from 6 a.m. until midnight some days, and sometimes sleeping in the studio.[4](https://streetsoftoronto.com/toronto-culture/pulse-netflix-medical-drama-new-series/) She has recalled that roughly 20 people were accepted out of about 2,500 applicants in her cycle.[3](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-on-the-sag-strikes-and-how-you-can-support-it)
## Theatre and early screen work
During her studies she played classical and contemporary roles, including Regan in Shakespeare's *King Lear* and Loretta in George F. Walker's *Featuring Loretta*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) After graduating in 2016 she worked in commercials and local indie projects, and in 2020 landed her first breakout screen role as Jill in the horror-thriller *Spare Parts*, directed by Andrew Hunt.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) • [4](https://streetsoftoronto.com/toronto-culture/pulse-netflix-medical-drama-new-series/)
Television credits through the early 2020s include Sasha in the queer softball comedy series *Slo Pitch* (19 episodes, 2020–2022), an episode of *Impulse* (2019) as [Gossip Girl](https://www.edgepedia.org/gossip-girl) #1, the television movies *Sappy Holiday* (2022) and *Meet Me in New York* (2022), the film *Adult Adoption* (2022), and guest roles as Rachel Flowers in *Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent* (2024) and Megan in the TV movie *A Chef's Deadly Revenge* (2024).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) • [5](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/chelsea-muirhead/credits/3000914191/)
## Warrior
In 2023 Muirhead played Yan Mi across ten episodes of the third season of *Warrior*, the martial-arts drama series inspired by [Bruce Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-lee)'s writings.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) • [3](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-on-the-sag-strikes-and-how-you-can-support-it) The role drew casting attention ahead of her next series: press coverage described her as "swapping the ring for the trauma room" when she moved from *Warrior* to *Pulse*.[4](https://streetsoftoronto.com/toronto-culture/pulse-netflix-medical-drama-new-series/)
## Pulse
**Pulse (2025).** Muirhead plays Dr. Sophie Chan, a surgical intern described by Netflix as smart, capable, and willing to endure anything in her quest to become a great surgeon, in *Pulse*, created by Zoe Robyn with [Carlton Cuse](https://www.edgepedia.org/carlton-cuse) as co-showrunner.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/pulse-medical-drama?inapp=true%2F) The ten-episode Canadian medical drama is set in a Miami Level 1 trauma center and premiered on Netflix on April 3, 2025; it is the streamer's first English-language medical procedural.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/) • [6](https://www.shedoesthecity.com/torontos-chelsea-muirhead-stars-in-juicy-new-medical-drama-pulse/) Landing the part moved quickly: on one callback she had to learn a four-page scene an hour before performing it.[4](https://streetsoftoronto.com/toronto-culture/pulse-netflix-medical-drama-new-series/)
The production's hurricane sequences were physically demanding. Muirhead described shooting in the rain under rain machines in the desert for 13 hours in about 3 degrees Celsius while soaked, calling it a "core memory" of the shoot.[6](https://www.shedoesthecity.com/torontos-chelsea-muirhead-stars-in-juicy-new-medical-drama-pulse/) She has said the character's arc centers on Sophie's insecurities bleeding into high-stakes clinical work, and on learning confidence, friendship, and how to ask for help.[7](https://movieswetextedabout.com/interview-chelsea-muirhead-explores-pulses-realistic-take-on-life-inside-a-trauma-center/)
## Identity and industry advocacy
Muirhead speaks about her mixed Filipino-Scottish background in her public interviews, saying that limited on-screen representation shaped her early expectations and that telling "stories that are human first" is what interests her.[8](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-pulse-netflix-interview) As an ACTRA member (not [SAG-AFTRA](https://www.edgepedia.org/sag-aftra)), she spoke in November 2023 about how the Hollywood strikes halted Canadian production, noting that when American work stops, Toronto's crews, locations, and rental economies stop with it.[3](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-on-the-sag-strikes-and-how-you-can-support-it)
## References
1. [Chelsea Muirhead, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10145861/)
2. [Pulse Medical Drama: The Show Creators Explain Plot, Trailer, Cast, Premiere Date, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/pulse-medical-drama?inapp=true%2F)
3. [Chelsea Muirhead on the SAG Strikes (And How You Can Support It), Mixed Asian Media, November 7, 2023](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-on-the-sag-strikes-and-how-you-can-support-it)
4. [Toronto actor to star in Netflix medical drama that 'Grey's Anatomy' fans will love, Streets of Toronto, April 1, 2025](https://streetsoftoronto.com/toronto-culture/pulse-netflix-medical-drama-new-series/)
5. [Chelsea Muirhead List of Movies and TV Shows, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/chelsea-muirhead/credits/3000914191/)
6. [Toronto's Chelsea Muirhead Stars in Juicy New Medical Drama 'Pulse', SheDoesTheCity, April 4, 2025](https://www.shedoesthecity.com/torontos-chelsea-muirhead-stars-in-juicy-new-medical-drama-pulse/)
7. [Interview: Chelsea Muirhead Explores Pulse's Realistic Take on Life Inside a Trauma Center, Movies We Texted About, April 4, 2025](https://movieswetextedabout.com/interview-chelsea-muirhead-explores-pulses-realistic-take-on-life-inside-a-trauma-center/)
8. [Chelsea Muirhead on Telling Human Stories, Mixed Asian Media, September 22, 2025](https://mixed-asian-media.squarespace.com/chelsea-muirhead-pulse-netflix-interview)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Canadian actors › Surnames M to P*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license