An Advocate for Change and Inclusion in the Creative Industries

Keely Cat-Wells, championing change in the acting industry.

Recently making it on to Forbes’ Under 30’s Honoree, Keely Cat-Wells is known for her inspirational message that disability inclusion is paramount in the advertising and media industry. After being denied an acting role due to her disability, Keely took a stand and is now a proud entrepreneurial founder and CEO of C Talent, an agency that represents disabled actors and athletes and her latest creation, Zetta Studios, a fully accessible film studio based in the UK and the first of its kind.

Growing up in West Sussex, Cat-Wells used musical theatre as an escape for her troubled time during school when she was bullied. Since she took up acting, the passion continued into her later life, performing in numerous commercials and Disney shows. Finding a connection with dance, Keely attended university with hopes to pave her career, until an unfortunate illness came to light, which changed her life forever. 

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After multiple hospital visits and misdiagnosis’s, she found out there was a problem with her intestines, where they had to operate to remove the entire colon after an allergic reaction during surgery. With years of pain, eventually Keely was diagnosed with PTSD from the mental and physical trauma she went through. 

During her recovery, Cat-Wells wanted to get back into working life and managed to find a talent agency on the search for an intern. After the children talent sections head employee left, Keely was asked to take the role, only three weeks in. Finding it hard to give specific attention to such a wide range of clients, she decided it was her time to leave and start a talent agency of her own.

Auditioning for a film back in 2017, Keely was turned down for the part because of her ileostomy bag being revealed. She wished the company would have been willing to adapt to her circumstances instead of letting her go, ‘so from there, I was like, if this is me, then there has to be so many other people that are having the same issues.’

Cat-Wells started her company which later formed C Talent, representing artists such as CJ Jones who appeared in ‘Baby Driver’ and Kurt Yaegar recognised by the role of Greg the Peg in ‘Sons of Anarchy.’ With an increasing clientele list and a sponsorship from American Eagle Outfitters, Keely is in demand to promote her notion of embracing diversity across all media brands.

Utilising social media to educate others is a great part of Keely’s day to day, adding subtle elements like image descriptions on Instagram, ensures viewers can listen audio descriptively so no elements of society feel disregarded.

Ensuring multiple types of access are available for clients, is very important to Keely. Mobility aids and construction details like ramps and lowered counters are all part of the physical accessibility this company offers. Along with sensory, communication and cognitive access, clients can grow as part of a like-minded community.

Moving forward, Cat-Well’s wishes to have real portrayals of disabled characters on screen with her clients acting as a surgeon for instance, rather than the amputee and wheel-chair users strolling front stage down the catwalks. 

Her driving goal in life is to increases representation, to expand perspectives and include those which have previously been ignored.

‘We believe that in order to transform society, we must learn to tell, and listen to, a new set of stories about the world we want to create.’