Biography
Calyx Passailaigue (he/they) is an award-winning writer, director, producer and actor. Their work has received support from organizations such as Canada Council for the Arts, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the Tarragon Theatre, the Varley Art Gallery, Troma Entertainment, Film Shortage, CaribbeanTales Media Group, Rudy Blair Entertainment Media and CBC-Radio Canada. Calyx is a winner of Toronto Metropolitan University's Jack Kuper Film Award, the Universal Studios Canada Scholarship in Filmmaking, Best Film & Best Screenplay at the Miami 4 Social Change Film Festival, Best Medium Length Narrative at the Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival and Best Toronto Based Filmmaker at the Toronto Arthouse Film Festival. Their work has screened as an Official Selection at many established film festivals throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada.
In 2017, Calyx earned their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Film Production from Toronto Metropolitan University, where they graduated with honours. Their short film "Men at War (2019)," starring "Degrassi: Next Class (2016)" alums Eric Osborne and Richard Walters, was distributed by the beloved indie genre film company Troma Entertainment ("The Toxic Avenger (1984)"). Their Canada Council for the Arts-supported comedy mockumentary "Zeen? (2020)" was displayed at the Varley Art Gallery and is available to stream on Renderyard and CaribbeanTales-TV. As an actor, they appeared on a Canadian Screen Award winning episode of "Paranormal Nightshift (2020)" and were cast on "Star Trek: Discovery (2017)."
Onstage, Calyx has created pieces for the Tarragon Theatre’s Young Playwrights Unit, Buddies in Bad Times’ QueerCab showcase and Theatre Ya Knowww’s 24 Hour Play Fest (Organizer’s Pick: Best Directing). As a development producer with CaribbeanTales Media Group, they co-produced The Big Pitch @ TIFF event and mentorship program in 2023. As an educator, they have designed and taught film-focused courses for the City of Markham and Horizons for Youth. They also worked as a writing and directing mentor for the non-profit POV’s Media Training Program and inFocus Program. In 2023, they co-founded the 15 to 10 International Film Festival, an annual showcase of outstanding short-form video content from online platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Recently, an article about the festival was published by the CBC-Radio Canada. Their latest film, "At a Loss," is currently in post-production.
