Q & A With Daniela Lee
Actress Daniela Lee is a hustler — she is known among her friends to be the persistent, dependable one. She got her degree in Neuroscience and Biology from UC Riverside and never intended to work on camera. She originally started in the industry as a wardrobe stylist behind the scenes of film and television sets, but fate had alternate plans for her.
Three years ago, while working as a wardrobe stylist on “A Weekend with the Family,” Daniela was coaxed into playing a role as an assistant to one of the main actors. She had to improvise her lines during the takes and thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the other actors. Daniella was bitten by the acting bug and she hasn’t looked back since.
“You have to really stick to it and not have a plan B. If you have a plan B in this industry, you can’t really go all in,” she says. “You need to invest yourself constantly. It has to be your priority. You have to constantly be bettering yourself. Anything I make, I re-invest into training and marketing material.”
She began to take improv classes at the famed comedy training center, Upright Citizens Brigade, in Los Angeles and immersed herself in film and television training at highly respected studios like Speiser Sturges, Annie Grindlay, and Stan Kirsch.
With that kind of ambition and drive, Daniela is frequently cast as the strong, independent woman with an edge. Even though she only began her on-camera journey fairly recently, she has already amassed an impressive number of credits, including guest-starring role on Blumhouse’s Crypt TV and a recurring role on the television pilot, “Half-Vanilla.”
She recently completed a dramatic science fiction short where she plays the daughter to a man that was cryogenically frozen called, “A Day Too Soon.” Although well-versed in both comedy and drama, Daniela prefers drama. “I love exploring relationships… in this last short, I loved the fact that it was a daughter meeting her father as a stranger. I also loved seeing the special effects come together,” she says.
Although she comes off edgy, she has a tender side as well. She rescues and fosters dogs in her spare time when she isn’t on set.
“This industry is hard and I feel like we get down on ourselves when we don’t get the opportunity to do what we love,” she says. “I constantly work on scripts when I’m not on set or getting auditions and I make a point to practice gratitude everyday. It reminds me why I love doing this and how lucky I am to be able to pursue what I love.”
Where are you from originally?
I’m originally from Los Angeles — unicorn!
What inspired you to be in the industry?
A good mentor and friend I met on a movie set advised me to try improv because I was going through some rough times in life, and was really lost. She thought improv would get me out of my head and bring my confidence up. Since then I’ve met more people in the industry that inspired me to get into it.
What are some of the projects you have worked on in the past?
I’ve worked on the feature, “Weekend with the Family,” which is currently still on Netflix, a sci-fi short, “A Day Too Soon,” which is making the festival round, and my most recent project is “MILFriend,” a web tv series that’ll be playing at the TCL theatre for a screening next week!
Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I see myself still growing as an artist, confident but humble, and mentoring those that are just as hungry as I was when I first began.
How do you feel the industry is changing and how do you feel it benefits you as an actor?
The industry has been embracing diversity and encouraging more diverse actors, writers, directors, and producers. There are stories that are finally being told from our perspective, by us, and it gives the world a chance to see us as real people dealing with the same real problems as everyone. We aren’t just an insignificant filler stereotype.
