Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Enoch Lee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Enoch, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

A lot of things. I’m very lucky to have been raised by my parents. They aren’t perfect; no one is, but they acknowledged that every step of the way. If I had to choose one thing that they did right, I’d say that it was their willingness to let me make my own choices and guide me through understanding the consequences. In my early childhood, they would set boundaries and expectations. If I decided to cross those boundaries or do something prohibited, at that age, they were the ones instituting the consequences and explained the reasons to me. I think a lot of parents miss the explanation part. They would also help me navigate my feelings, which I really needed at that age. As I got older, they would give me advice but backed off on carrying out consequences because life would do that for me. They’ve done and continue to do everything they can to make sure that my siblings and I are happy. They’ve even gone to parenting school, and I’ve seen that help their development as parents. Parenting is hard, and despite the fact that we’ve had our disagreements and differences, I will always appreciate their dedication to me and my siblings. Thanks, 엄마 and 아빠!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Sure! I’m just some guy who wanted to be a singer but ended up being an actor instead. I’m also a high school teacher, but we’ll see how long that’ll last (it hasn’t been great on my mental health). I know this is print, but imagine some anxious laughter here.

But more about my acting. I got interested in the field in high school. Like I said, I originally wanted to be a singer like my mom, who’s also a teacher now, but in my sophomore year, a friend of mine was directing a play for his senior capstone and wanted me to audition for it. I did and it unlocked something in me. Acting felt freeing and fun in a way that singing had never felt. I still love singing, but I don’t think I could ever do it as a profession. Even after 5 years in the industry, I still love acting. I enjoy being on set and getting to know people. I enjoy getting to read so many creative screenplays and represent new characters. I love the amount of cooperation involved and working with so many others to create one, unified vision.
I’m most proud of this one scene I had in Amazon’s Dead Ringers. It’s made so many people laugh, which is why I’m proud of it, but I’m not sure I want to spoil it. It’s in the second episode, if you want to watch, but a brief rundown is that my character is experiencing some frustration that Rachel Weisz’s character doesn’t let him relieve. You’ll know it when you see it.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My whole career has been a series of pivots, but I’ll just talk about one. I initially meant to start acting in sophomore year of college, I didn’t know what I was doing, so I was very fortunate to sign with my manager that year (shoutout Bright Artists Management!). I was still mainly focused on schoolwork, so I didn’t get to invest much into acting. When my senior year came around, I was so excited to finally escalate my development, but I was Class of 2020, so, you know. *That* happened. Just like everyone else, I had to pivot my timeline due to the pandemic. It wasn’t so bad for me, and I gotta say, the self-tapes were a game changer. In a way, it was good because I could have time for a full-time job so long as my employers were understanding of my other job, which they have been, thankfully. I also was able to get some virtual classes in, though it would have been nice to experience in-person classes, which I have been to since. That said, the downside was that I wasn’t able to go 100% into acting like I had planned. This was when I unintentionally planted the seeds for working in childcare and education, which is where I’m at now, and it’s not helping me mentally, that’s for sure. I’ve had a few other major pivots in my personal life in between all that, like religion, love life, and other things like that, but as far as one that’s relevant to my life as an actor, the pandemic switch to education and childcare was definitely a big one.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I was a big believer in principles. I still am to some degree, don’t get me wrong, but I recently started therapy, and something I learned is that sometimes, these rules that we set for ourselves can be bad for us and unhelpful for anyone else. For example, a rule that I set for myself is that I need to give 100% to everything that I do or it’s not worth it. Sounds good on the surface, but when you think about it, that can lead to loss of motivation on things that I am not able to give 100% on due to time constraints and stuff. Either that or I stretch myself to thin and burn out, leading me to not being able to give any percent, let alone 100%. I’ve experienced both, and when you don’t meet the expectations of a personal rule like that, you feel like a failure, and that’s not helpful.

It was hard to unlearn that rule, even just adding an addendum to it like, “You must always give 100% effort to important things, and even then, you may not be able to, so recognize that your best may not be 100% or anything even close to that and accept the outcome and move on, because preserving yourself is important, too,” is difficult even though it makes sense and is reasonable. Maybe because it’s too wordy? Whatever it is, I’m still working on it. It got me through elementary school, but as soon as middle school started and the workload increased, oof. If a rule you set for yourself is harming you, maybe consider amending it or scrapping it altogether.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.enochsuholee.com
• Instagram: enoch_suho_lee

Image Credits
1. N/A 2. Rex Lott 3. The Reel Shop 4. Annapurna Television, Amazon Studios 5. Annapurna Television, Amazon Studios 6. Hofstra University Lawrence Herbert School of Communication