Lavel Schley began his career on the stages of Kansas. He made a string of appearances on  Freeform's Grown-ish (2018) before landing his role as Andre Bentley in CBS crime-drama series East New York (2022-23). Soon after, he made his film debut in Marc Forster's comedic-drama A Man Called Otto (2022). Additional film credits include Blue Hour (2024), Ballad of the Final Fire (2025), Unknown Citizen (2026), and Holla James (2027). He starred in the award winning stage production of Chicken stories (2024-25) as well as the Justin S. Cimino directed off-broadway run of Bobbie Clearly (2025).