It’s a typical Tuesday in Los Angeles, with light drizzle hanging in the air, as Camille Solari enters a café wearing a vintage Charlie’s Angels T-shirt and a neon fanny pack, a little worn but full of character. Without an umbrella, she orders, “A flat white with two extra shots of espresso, please.” After a sip of her coffee, she shares a Blue Bottle biscuit with her Boston Terrier and announces, “And we’re off.”
Camille Solari is a multi-talented artist—a comedian, songwriter, director, and showrunner known for Charlie TV and an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in 2014. However, she began her career as a billboard model for Dickies jeans, with over numerous billboards featuring her image in the late 2000s. “If you saw a pin-up model on the 105 Freeway, that was me,” she says with a smile.
From Stage to Screen to Everywhere
Camille’s artistic journey started not just with comedy, but with a deep love for Shakespeare. She performed in a sketch-comedy Shakespeare troupe, followed by a memorable performance as Regan in King Lear to cap her BFA at Emerson College in Boston. “I lived in a downtown Boston loft with my all-girl band, Chocolate, always with my head in a Shakespeare book. Theater has always been a passion of mine.”
She later found her stride in dark comedies, writing, producing, and starring in films like Wannabe Rocker, True True Lie (The Weinstein Company), and Boston Girls (Netflix). She also appeared in a number of cult-favorite films, including Bullet (with Danny Trejo), Recoil (with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin), and Dawn Rider (with Donald Sutherland and Christian Slater).
Her transition to comedy came unexpectedly but quickly. She launched the viral fashion blog GlamTipForBrokeAssChicks, which evolved into a web series, followed by the Milf & Cookies video podcast, offering a refreshing and unique take on humor.
Photo Courtesy: Wire Image / Camille Solari
Arsenio Hall and comedian Camille Solari the evening of her iconic stand up comedian performance
Stand-Up That Made History
Everything shifted when Camille, eight-and-a-half months pregnant, performed stand-up on The Arsenio Hall Show in front of millions. “At first, I thought pregnancy would make me too tired to perform, but instead, it made me funnier,” she shares. Since then, she has headlined shows in over 30 countries, often as the first female comedian to do so in those regions.
Charlie TV: A Show That Grew Like a Child
Next came Charlie TV, a groundbreaking live-action, single-camera kids’ comedy series. Premiering in 2015 on Roku and later streaming on Prime, the show’s uniqueness comes from the fact that its main character, Charlie Dean, reflects the real-life age of the actress playing her. The show is a personal, evolving time capsule, with Camille’s family members, including her husband Hamish Dean (a PhD mathematician and world-champion Catan player) and their Boston Terrier, Rocky Balboa Dean, appearing in the storyline.
The show’s success continued offscreen, with songs Camille co-wrote with Deedee O’Malley and Charlie Dean winning awards at film festivals worldwide. “I just heard my daughter humming one of the songs and thought, ‘Hmm, that’s catchy.’”
The Many Hats of Camille Solari
Despite her impressive accomplishments, Camille’s career doesn’t fit neatly into one box. She writes, directs, and produces a variety of content—comedy, drama, indie films—across platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Universal, and Comedy Central. “I’m hyper-focused and underfed,” she laughs. “If I stop, everything falls apart. I just want to live life to the fullest, and I want my family to have the same creative drive.”
She also reflects on the small moments that make up her life—like the autumn weather in Vietnam or the texture of the walls in a venue in Colombo. These details are all cataloged in her mind like a librarian’s notes. “I think it’s important to create fun memories for the people I care about,” she says. “Whether it’s school camping trips, moms’ nights out, or coaching my kids’ volleyball and soccer teams—I want to do a good job and always improve.”
Photo Courtesy: Camille Solari
From left to to right, Blade Dean, Charlie Dean, Hamish Dean (Catan World Champion) next to Klaus Teuber, creator of Catan, and Camille Solari (wife) in Malta at The Catan World Championship
What Drives Her Forward
When asked what keeps her moving and why she’s involved in so many projects, Camille pauses, her coffee foam catching the corner of her lip. “I don’t want to run out of stories,” she says. “When I stop creating, everything else gets loud—emails, bills, existential dread. Creativity is my buffer.”
Her drive, she admits, is fueled by a combination of passion, responsibility to her family, and the joy of bringing people together. “I just want to keep creating and stay engaged with everything around me.”
