Meet Donna Lee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Lee.

Donna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was 18 when I first started acting and I decided to come to LA to the bigger stage for me three years ago after I graduated college and started out as an actress in Korea. It was hard when I first moved here because of the culture difference and the language barrier. I could speak good English from living here for 3-4years when I was young, but I realized that I lost a lot of English after I moved back to Korea.

So I spent full 3 months without speaking Korean. I tried not to call home or my friends in Korea as much as I can and spent most of the time watching American movies and listening to the radio when I wasn’t in the class. It was really hard at first but my goal which was to start acting career here in Hollywood kept me going. It really helped me a lot to understand the cultures or the style of the Hollywood films.

After I graduated New York film academy, I was able to sign with an agent and manager right away with a great fortune. They started to send me out to the audition and I was able to book several shorts, commercials and music videos from it. I’m so grateful to work here as an actress, pursuing what I love the most and collaborate with a lot of super talented people. I want to keep creating good arts and inspire people.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It was smooth when I first started. I got into film school 6 month after I started acting where I had to take an audition with thousands of other actors to be accepted, I happened to win 2 best acting awards from the college film festival in the first year of college and I had a great opportunity to star in the big tv show the year after. I thought I would be in the big films anytime soon if I just wait.

When I actually faced reality after the graduation, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. It was very tough. I couldn’t even get an audition for several months, I had to get a side job to make living. I finally got an audition to join one of the biggest management company in Korea and passed two auditions but I couldn’t make it at the final because they thought I was too old to start out. (I was 23). I was very disappointed because it is too rough to get the auditions without agencies or managers in Korea. I was really depressed and I thought I failed as an actress. Also, the pressure my parents gave me for not having “real jobs” was too big to bear so I decided to step away from acting career.

I started online business with my friend and it was going really well for one and a half year. But I still couldn’t get away from the thought that I want to pursue acting. I decided to give up everything and start it over. But I wanted to give it a big shot this time. Since I could speak English from studying in different countries from the early age, I wanted to pursue the acting career in Hollywood. 2 months after consideration, I enrolled New York film academy and came to LA. I still face hard time here as a foreigner and minor ethnicity but I love being in LA and I’m happy that I’m doing what I love the most.

Please tell us about Donna Lee.
-Have shot more than 20 shorts, some of then went to great film festivals such as 48hr international film festival, Pusan international film festival, etc.
-Was in a TV show called “Golden time” where several huge stars in Korea were starring.
-Shot NCAA PSA national commercial andSamsungg thrive commercial this year.
-Shot 2 commercials that are airing in major Korean broadcasting channels in the US.
-Two big short films is coming out this August.

Korean Reel :
https://youtu.be/hMeSIQPRHAc
English Reel
https://youtu.be/0FuwuuzGxZU
Action Reel
https://youtu.be/Ph5kjuk4onc

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would work harder when I had chances. Not that I wasn’t, but now that I look back after I spent last year in the US with the pressure I want to make something happen in one year, I could see so many things that I’ve been missing when I was in Korea because I was too comfortable there.

I was working hard, but didn’t push myself out of comfort zone enough nor try new things. There were so many things I could find to do that would make myself improved that I could’ve done in Korea as well but didn’t realize until I actually become desperate after I came here.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dann2l.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @Dann2.L

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