We were lucky to catch up with Rebecca Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebecca, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

I think when you’re any type of artist, there will be a point (or multiple points) where you are misunderstood. That’s the nature of being in a profession that requires you to show vulnerability and bare your soul in some capacity. Compound that with social media where users feel a sense of detachment from the person on their screen that they’re critiquing, and you are bound to be mischaracterized at some point. And to me, being misunderstood feels worse than failing because the inference people are making can be so inaccurate, and yet you can’t fix it when it’s a bunch of people on the internet or a live audience. Even for instance a casting director. You’re in the room for 5-10 minutes and once you leave, you can’t check up to make sure that CD has an accurate portrayal of you based on the minutes you’re in the room you know?

And I get it. It’s human nature to want to categorize people because deep down, this categorization is a quick way to denote who is safe and who isn’t. But as we continue to evolve, this quick categorization isn’t only not necessary, it’s detrimental and problematic to our society. This manifests for me in the entertainment industry, as people not being able to grasp that I’m a multihyphenate. Yes, I’m a classically trained actor, but I’m also a mixed media artist and a mental health-podcast host and a comedy writer and a creative director and because of that diversification, it makes it hard to categorize me, which is where problems can arise for booking jobs. For example, let’s say a project is looking to bring on a comedic actor. They see me with a bunch of interests that I work on or Actor B who only works on acting. They’re likely to go with Actor B. That has been something I’ve had to come to terms with. I can either stop doing all the things that interest me so I can just be seen as one thing, or I can keep working on all my things knowing that it will be a hindrance in some capacity. Currently, I’m not willing to give anything up. I’m too interested in expanding my mind in multiple disciplines. So will that cause me to be mischaracterized? Yes. But it is something I can deal with in order to keep doing the things I love.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an artist first, looking to engage in projects that act as a mirror to society, showing them things they may not have noticed before for the betterment of our world. Usually with a comedic twist. I’m an actor, comedian, writer, and artist who values vulnerability and authenticity above everything. I’m not afraid to push boundaries or stand out in a crowd. I’m not afraid of being misunderstood because at my core I know my values. I think the nickname (albeit self-appointed), “bad b*tch of comedy”, is exactly what I am. I say all of this because it’s important to know about who I am as a person before learning about what I do for a living since a career in the arts for me is very entangled with my essential nature.

I am a SAG-AFTRA actor based in Los Angeles. I’ve been acting since I was a kid and have studied at Atlantic Acting School in NYC as well as various studios in the LA area. I started doing improv at UCB in Los Angeles and quickly fell in love with comedy. Since then, I’ve been doing mostly comedic acting for networks like Comedy Central and The CW. Writing began for me out of necessity when I was only getting roles like “Blonde girl 1” or “Mean girl” or “Bimbo girl” aka Hollywood’s dream role for a blonde actress in comedy. Needless to say, I was not pleased so I started to write and eventually shoot shorts and sketches with characters that I actually enjoy playing. I think my favorite parts to play are brazen, quick witted, and sometimes deadpan characters who really don’t give a f*ck. Think if Kaitlin Olsen and Aubrey Plaza had a baby. That baby would be me. I started doing live comedy shows at indie theaters around Los Angeles including The Lyric Hyperion, The Clubhouse, and Moving Arts until I eventually started hosting and playing in my own show at UCB alongside my writing partner, called From Your TV to UCB. The concept was taking an actor from film and television who had never done improv before and have them do, well, improv, alongside a highly-skilled comedian. We had some great guests like Colin Hanks, Drew Tarver, Lauren Lapkus, and Matthew Gray Gubler. The show was running until March 2020, when covid hit, shutting down everything.

Which brings us to my podcast. It originally just started as me not feeling confident and wanting to change that, so I asked peers who struck me as ultra confident if I could buy them coffee and pick their brain. A few weeks in, the pandemic hit, and I decided to migrate these chats to Zoom and record them to see if they might help anyone else struggling with confidence. I called it, “How the F*ck Did You Get So Confident?”. Low and behold, I found that there was an audience for this type of content and not only was my podcast getting listeners, but people were writing me saying how much the podcast helped them in their life. I’m now on season two which is called, “How the F*ck Did You Bounce Back?”, where I talk to friends, peers, and strangers about how they overcame the lowest moments of their lives. It’s available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the other places you stream your podcasts.

As I was doing my podcast, I began learning more and more about mental health. Things like common issues, anxiety remedies, institutional blocks, access to healthcare, stigmas. The list goes on and on. So much so that I started making art as a way to process all of the stories I was being told by my podcast guests about their mental health journey. The art I make uses mostly found materials, a lot of which are expired pills and vitamins, to provide a social commentary on mental health and the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. The brand is called Fatherless Behavior, a term that I saw some random troll online use to try to make a woman feel bad so I decided to take the term back and change the stigma. You can find my pieces on Etsy and Instagram for now. Just search Fatherless Behavior.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The purpose of my art can be distilled into three things: – To act as a mirror on society, reflecting back things they might not otherwise have seen about themselves and the world around them.
– To make people feel less alone in their feelings, their experiences, and their existence.
– Because I love to do it
Everything I do and everything I make has been filtered through the lens of these three goals so receiving feedback validating any of them, and that includes internal feedback from myself, is why I keep going as an artist. To have someone say my podcast helped them through their breakup or reach out to commission an art piece honoring their journey going off birth control or to just hear people laugh during one of my live improv shows is the best feeling and is the absolute most rewarding thing as a creative. It is extremely hard being in the arts in any capacity. It’s hard to make a living. You’re constantly getting critiqued. People say no to you all the time. So to stay in this career you really have to love it. I’m just grateful to have something in my life that I love so much.

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

We are a product of our environment. We live in a capitalist world that values being overworked and underpaid. We live in a patriarchy where women aren’t treated equally to men. We live in a world with systemic racism. There is so much unlearning that we all need to do if we want to evolve as a society. For me, all of the above manifested as perfectionism and people pleasing which lead to anxiety, depression and substance abuse. For the longest time I did what everyone else wanted me to do. What my father unfairly demanded of me. What society unfairly demanded of me. I was told as a woman to be seen, but not heard. I didn’t have a voice. I didn’t even know who I was because I was just a culmination of what other people wanted me to be. I struggled with mental health, but hid it because that’s what society praised. I had multiple rock bottoms, but what kept me going is art, therapy, and support. Making art. Consuming art. Learning art. In therapy, I unlearned this black and white thinking where there is a right way and a wrong way. Where to be “good” you have to be perfect. Where to be valuable you have to work 60+ hours a week doing something you don’t love. Where vulnerability is weak and steadfastness is strong. And to be honest, I am still unlearning things every day. But that’s the amazing thing about being human. We can unlearn and change and evolve if we just educate ourselves, show empathy, and try.

Contact Info:

• Website: RebeccaLeeOfficial.com
• Instagram: @Its_RebeccaLee
• Other: TikTok: @Its_RebeccaLee Podcast IG: @HowTheFuckDidYou Art IG/TikTok: @ThisIsFatherlessBehavior

Image Credits
Photo by Savanna Ruedy Makeup by Edwin Monzon Creative direction & Styling by me