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

TK, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I never really went to a school for acting. I did take a few classes here and there, both online and in person, but for the most part I taught myself and learned through trial, error, and real on set experience.

If I could go back and speed up the learning process, I’d simply try to act as much as possible. Early on, I stressed over the wrong things, like whether I was getting paid or if my reel had too much of the same type of footage.
Of course money matters (I did not come from it and bills are real) but in the beginning I should have been more focused on building experience. I was too impatient. I wanted to go big right away. Looking back, I wish I had jumped into more projects, especially student thesis films.

A lot of beginners dismiss them because of the word “student,” but some of those crews have better equipment and resources than independent productions because they are funded by schools. They also tend to be fully staffed, which is not always the case with indie projects.

That said, it is still important to be strategic. There are projects I wish I had turned down when my instincts told me to, but even then the experience I gained in front of the camera and on set was valuable. Every director and crew works differently, and learning how to adapt and communicate is just as important as acting itself.

I am still learning, and I think I always will be. Like any profession, it is not just about the work. Building relationships can matter just as much as talent.

Earlier in my career, I only focused on the performance and rarely interacted with people outside of the scenes. Do not make that mistake. If the scene is difficult and you need to be in your zone, that is understandable, but you can still introduce yourself and connect with the people you are working with.
However, becomes more challenging when you get a last minute call or when you are on set for only one or two days as a day player.
In those situations, you have to balance preparation with connection. If the call came last minute and you did not have enough time to prepare, then focus on meeting people briefly but prioritize the performance.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi, I’m TK Lee. I was born in San Francisco but grew up in South Korea. My love for acting began long before I ever realized it could be a profession. As a kid, I was captivated by stories in every form. I started with picture books I read with my mom, then moved on to comics, anime, and eventually movies and tv shows. Each one felt like stepping stone into a completely different world.

When I was seventeen, I moved alone to Colorado. To learn English, I spent hours at the public library borrowing DVDs. I would watch with subtitles, pause whenever I did not understand something, and look up the words. What started as studying quickly became joy. Those films shaped not only my language but also my outlook on life.

Even then, acting felt like a distant dream. People knew me more for my art since I was winning contests and receiving scholarship offers. But with money running out, I worked in restaurants to support myself.

After high school, I tried everything. I sold commissioned artwork, got into kickboxing, and read books that made me question who I really was. I wanted to know how much of me was truly mine and how much was shaped by the world around me. That search eventually led me to acting. I thought if I could live through different characters, I might discover my authentic self. So I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles.

But I was not disciplined. I surrounded myself with the wrong people and soon lost focus. At the time, Hollywood was not particularly welcoming to Asian actors, and I convinced myself the dream was unrealistic. So I walked away. For years, I worked a string of jobs: coffee shops, waiting tables, driving Uber, working in an escrow company and later in real estate. I was surviving, but never fulfilled.

Then everything shifted. One day my broker suggested me to film a short video for my website. I wrote a script, rehearsed in front of the mirror, and stepped onto the set. The moment the camera rolled, something lit up inside me. That spark I thought I had lost came rushing back, reminding me exactly why I had wanted to act in the first place.

Today, I have been acting professionally for four years. I have worked on countless short films, a handful of features, web series, and vertical projects. Most recently, I wrapped my fifth episode with Dhar Mann Studios, my second time playing a lead with them. That episode should be hitting YouTube soon, and it feels like just the beginning.

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

To be honest, it’s just fun, haha. When I used to work regular jobs, like at the escrow office, the moment I clocked out my mind completely left work. I was just excited to go home and watch a movie. But the next morning, when I had to clock back in, it felt like walking into a torture chamber to endure hours of punishment. I was basically living for the weekend.

Being an artist feels completely different. Work itself is enjoyable. Of course, there are times I get stressed, especially before a difficult scene. But that stress comes from wanting to make the performance better, not from dreading the work. I never find myself wishing I could skip a day on set or counting down to the weekend.

And then there’s the impact. Knowing I can inspire people through my work is incredibly rewarding. Sometimes kids will message me after watching the Dhar Mann episodes I was in, telling me I motivated them or made them see things differently. Moments like that remind me that the most rewarding part of being an artist isn’t just the fun I have doing it, but the chance to inspire others.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Two books that impacted me the most are Demian by Hermann Hesse and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

They made me question what truly shapes who I am, and that search led me to pursue acting. I believed that by living many different lives through characters, I could discover more about myself.

Later, I realized acting alone does not guarantee self discovery. You can play a hundred different roles, but without genuine self-reflection, you may still know nothing about who you really are.

I believe even someone with the simplest job, if they constantly reflect on themselves, can understand their true nature more deeply than a well known actor who never takes the time to look inward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://demoreel.com/tklee
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tk_lee__?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Other: https://imdb.me/tklee

Image Credits

John Anthony Sutton

Dharmann Studio

Lada Egorova

Anderson Ballantyne