ABOUT CHARLA

Charla Bocchicchio has been acting and teaching for over 30 years. She received her BFA in Theater Education from the University of Utah with a Child Drama minor, where she served as Artistic Director for “Trust”, a touring theatrical program promoting child sexual abuse prevention. She was a regular instructor for the U of U’s Theatre School for Youth and their after-school drama program in addition to teaching acting at Rowland Hall. She credits here knowledge of teaching drama to her long-time mentor, Dr. Xan Johnson from the U of U.  

In 1995, Charla relocated to Birmingham, AL , where she founded and directed her own youth theater company, StageDoor Youth Theatre, in addition to running programs at Children’s Dance Foundation for 14 years.  While in Birmingham, she also served as adjunct theatre faculty at Birmingham-Southern College. During her years in Birmingham, Charla directed many stage productions including; “Anne Frank and Me”, ‘Zink; The Myth, The Legend, The Zebra", "Searching for David’s Heart", “Annie”, “The Music Man” and more.  As an actor, some of her favorite roles on stage have; Becca in “Rabbit Hole”, Grace in “From Up Here” and originating the role of Anita Bryant in Billy Ray Brewton’s original musical, “Skanks in a One Horse Town”, which is also the subject of a documentary by David McMahon called Skanks, which premiered at SlamDance in 2014.

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Charla took a huge risk and relocated to Southern California in 2012 with her 18 year old daughter, Cassidy. Armed with her headshots and an agent, Charla descended on Hollywood. Charla also taught award-winning commercial classes for kids and teens and provided private coaching for all ages at Keep It Real Acting in North Hollywood, mentored by the amazing Judy Kain.  There, she helped create a new commercial auditioning workshop especially for 4-6 year olds, as well as a kids camp for 7-12 yr olds, covering auditioning skills, commercial acting, film and TV acting, voice-over, improv, and hosting skills.  She has a special gift for working with young people and has nurtured and encouraged many young actors to find their creative voice. In Los Angeles, Charla had the opportunity to study with some of the best acting teachers in the country, including; Anthony Meindl at his well-known AMAW (Anthony Meindl’s Actor’s Workshop), Judy Kain at Keep it Real Acting, Candy Kaniecki at West End Studios and Julie Brister at UCB (Upright Citizen’s Brigade).  

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With a lifetime of experience under her belt, she made the decision to move back to Salt Lake City in late 2014 with her new wonderful, loving husband, John, to start a new life together and continue her career as an actor and acting coach, locally. Back with the McCarty Talent Agency, Charla hit the ground running, immediately booking regularly; commercials, short films, feature films. Including a supporting role in an indie feature film, Dear Coward on the Moon, on location in Viroqua, WI.  Charla has now become a highly sought after actress and acting coach locally.  Enjoying much success with viral internet ads, TV commercials,  major Hollywood productions shooting in the area, including; Blood & Oil, Yellowstone, The Chosen, and many more. Some favorite projects include: Hallmark Channel's Check Inn to Christmas, where she starred along side the wonderful Richard Karn (Home Improvement), Good Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg), and Glass Cages, a short film that won her the "Best Lead Actress" at the UT Film Awards in 2018.  She is no stranger to the indie film scene and loves to collaborate on projects that she connects with, wherever they may take her. 

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On a side note, Charla is now a published author, having written a memoir of her story of losing her only child, Cassidy to a drug overdose in 2016.  Check out My New Normal: A Mother's Story of Love and Loss in the Opioid Epidemic or visit: mynewnormalbook.com for more information.