Daniela Sea

Daniela Sea
Daniela Sea (left) with Neil Giuliano at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Jere)
Background information
Birth name	Unknown
Also known as	Daniela Sea Dan-yella Dyslexia Little Prince
Born	1977 Malibu, California, United States
Occupations	musician, actress, performance artist, juggler
Instruments	guitar, bass guitar, accordion, penny whistle
Years active	early 90s-Present
Associated acts	The Gr'ups, Cypher in the Snow, The Thorns Of Life, Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion

Daniela Sea (born 1977) is an American filmmaker musician, performance artist, former circus juggler, and actress. She is most widely known for her role as Max/Moira on Showtime's The L Word.

History

She grew up in Malibu, California, raised by her artist/surfer/hippie parents.^[1] When she was a child, her father came out as gay. Her stepfather taught her to surf and moved the family to Hawaii so they could enjoy better surfing. Her earliest memories are of the ocean, later inspiring her pseudonym.

Sea: "I ran away when I was 16 from L.A. and I moved to the Bay area, like a good gay kid would." While there in Berkeley, she joined the DIY/punk/feminist/artist space Gilman Street Project, studied improv acting in Laney College, and played in several punk rock bands, including The Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow.^[2]

Sea traveled all over Europe and Asia. She hitchhiked through Turkey, did some street theatre, and performed as a fire juggler with a traveling circus in Poland. As a punk rocker, she and her band cross-dressed. At one point in her world travels, she lived in India for eight months as a man.

“

It evolved quickly when I realized what freedom I'd have. As a man, I could ask questions and walk around at night. I felt it would give me better access to the culture. I don't feel anyone suspected anything. I never felt threatened, like I do here. If I want to, people think I'm a boy. I'm a tomboy. I always wear boys' clothes. I don't have to try very hard one way or the other.[3]

”

She said about her sexuality:

“

But I…don't believe that gender is just binary, and I never have, so that's what pulls me to sometimes politically identify as a lesbian, because I'm a feminist, and I feel like women are still so suppressed. I don't feel like we've come that far. But I also feel like there are people all along the spectrum, so in that sense, I feel like I would be more bisexual or just, you know, open-ended.[4]

”

Sea is a longtime vegan^[5][6] and has made a PSA video for PETA.^[7]

Career

After Sea returned from Europe, she moved to New York City^[8] and decided to re-enter the acting world, giving an audition tape to a friend who worked on The L Word's writing staff. Sea then got a call at her restaurant job in New York and was asked to fly to Los Angeles for an audition.^[2] She was then offered to perform the role of Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician who moves from the Midwest with Jenny (Mia Kirshner). Over the course of the season, Moira comes out as a trans man, adopting the name Max Sweeney.^[3] She, Clementine Ford (Molly), Alexandra Hedison (Dylan) and Leisha Hailey (Alice) are the only out lesbian women in The L Word ensemble cast.^[3]

With her girlfriend of the time, Bitch, formerly of Bitch and Animal, she helped to form a band called Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion. She was part of the band The Thorns of Life with her longtime friends Blake Schwarzenbach (formerly of Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil) and Aaron Cometbus (of Pinhead Gunpowder and formerly Crimpshrine). The band toured the West Coast and played in New York City and Philadelphia from fall 2008 through winter 2009.^[9] Besides The L Word, Sea's filmography also includes the films Shortbus (2006)^[2] (with Bitch, both as themselves) and Itty Bitty Titty Committee, released in 2007. She also appeared in the John Cameron Mitchell-directed music video for Bright Eyes' "First Day of My Life" with Bitch. On February 17, 2009, she guest starred on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a transgender boy, playing a similar role to Max Sweeney.

Daniela is cast in a leading role in the new film The Casserole Club. Co-starring Susan Traylor, Kevin Richardson (musician), Pleasant Gehman, and Garrett Swann, the film is set in 1969 and deals with damaged relationships. To be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Steve Balderson, filming is scheduled to take place in Wamego, Kansas during fall of 2010.

Sea currently plays in an unnamed music project with Will Schwartz. They played their second show at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California, in October 2010.^[10]

References

1. ^ Daniela Sea Biography
2. ^ ^{a b c} Interview with The L Word 's Daniela Sea | AfterEllen.com
3. ^ ^{a b c} www.l-word.com/cast/cast_daniela.php
4. ^ AfterEllen.com - Interview with The L Word's Daniela Sea (page 3)
5. ^ PETA.org // Veggie Testimonials // Daniela Sea // Featured Veggie Testimonial
6. ^ The PETA Files | PETA.org
7. ^ Daniela Sea Vegan PSA - YouTube
8. ^ Showtime^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "Thorns of Life Gigography, Tour History" Soundkick
10. ^ "TRANSylvania Mania!" Calendar of Hammer Museum

External links

• Daniela Sea's official website
• Daniela Sea at the Internet Movie Database
• Daniela Sea on The L Word
• Daniela Sea's official Myspace
• Interview about & her veganism/diet (video)
• The Casserole Club movie - official site from Dikenga Films

Persondata
Name	Sea, Daniela
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1977
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death