A Conversation with Dorren Lee

Dorren Lee is a Taiwanese-Canadian actor residing in Toronto who is well known for her roles in Freeform’s cult hit series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery, The CW’s Kung Fu, and Reel One’s Lease on Love. Dorren was born in Taipei and raised in Vancouver. As an immigrant raised in both Eastern and Western cultures, she understands the cultural challenges of staying true to herself while shaping her own identity in a changing industry. At a young age, Dorren exhausted her parents with endless questions about the world, from Taiwan to Canada and everything in between. Her curious nature eventually led her to acting, where she combined her love of performing with an exploration of humanity. On Star Trek: Discovery, for example, Dorren is excited that the last season parallels the pandemic in a way, with storylines and themes that capture both the end of the world and actual current events. 

Dorren also returned to Kung Fu for Season 3, which premiered on The CW in October, and she can also be seen in the feature film Stealing McCloud directed by Eric Colantoni which begins filming in 2023. Her most recent project is a recurring role on Season 4 of Diggstown, which premiered on CBC and CBC Gem on October 12th, where Dorren plays Andrea Garth, a lawyer and adopted daughter of the powerful Clawford family. On Diggstown, there are three adopted siblings with different ethnicities, and what Dorren finds interesting about her role is that Andrea Garth wants to break away from her family name and carve her own identity for herself. Andrea wants to stay true to herself, even if her family might not accept who she really is—something Dorren can personally relate to for pursuing acting without her family’s full support until much later in her career.

When describing her role, Dorren makes it very clear that Andrea’s struggle has less to do with her race and more with her not wanting to use her adopted family’s powerful name as her identity. Although she acknowledges that there is a lot of heightened awareness about race in the entertainment industry, Dorren understands better than anyone that her identity is more than her name or race. Her character Andrea learns more about who she is through exploring her sexual identity, which takes great courage to be herself. “ You deserve to take up space and be authentic and true to yourself,” she says. “Part of that process is figuring out who you are without the noise of society and expectations of other people.” 

As an actor, Dorren learned that how she views herself is not the same as how the industry may view her, noting that the roles she can actually audition for are limited because she looks a certain way. “I’ve never been so aware of identity, especially racial identity, as I have been the past two years with the pandemic and the association linking the virus to Asian people. It’s made me realize people will always have a judgment about you,” Dorren says. Dorren slightly cringed when she recounted once auditioning for the role for ‘Asian Mistress,’ which was clearly casting an Asian female actor for the part. She found herself caught in a situation where she wanted to audition for the experience, but realized that there are a small number of BIPOC roles that she can actually go for. “And it’s all a projection from them, whether it’s friends, family members, or strangers. So it’s important to be solid in who you are and know yourself confidently so that no one and nothing can shake your identity that is true to you.” 

Although casting BIPOC actors is not the same as telling authentic and diverse stories, Dorren believes that the industry is moving in a good direction for everyone. “ It’s exciting to see changes and more diversity in storytelling. It’s refreshing and I think it’s also what people are craving for. There’s still room to grow but I think this is an inspiring time to be in entertainment,” she says. On Diggstown, she says that Andrea Garth was written for an Asian actor, but the role was not about race. The note was mentioned in the breakdown, but not explicitly written in the storyline. In her mind, Dorren says that everything changed after Crazy Rich Asians. “I cried watching that movie,” she says. “It was the first time I saw on screen my own experience as an Asian female who grew up in the West and it made me feel like my story was important to tell, and that it could be told in an entertaining, heartfelt, funny, and artistic way. It gave me hope that I could be part of the representation I wanted to see and didn’t know I needed as a child.” 

Dorren is well aware that she stands out because of her appearance, but her identity is much more than her Asian race, which is what people only see on the outside. She says, “In Taiwan, I’m considered to be too white because of my mannerisms or how I dress, and in the west, I look like I’m not from here. So where do I belong? Where am I fully accepted?” Between Taiwan and Canada, Dorren grew up with two ways to look at the world, two cultures, and in a way, two personalities. As an immigrant, Dorren raises awareness to the cultural challenges she faces in the industry as she continues to break into the Western world on screen. In the future, Dorren is hopeful there will be more roles for BIPOC actors that are not limited to stereotypical and one-dimensional descriptions like ‘Asian Mistress.’

Dorren encourages everyone to tell more stories that will break barriers, labels, and preconceived ideas about identity. She wants to see more Asian writers, Asian directors, Asian people behind the screen, and more diverse perspectives in the entertainment and media industries. “I wish someone had told me to just go for it,” she says in reflection. “Don’t just wait and wonder about it. Start now. If someone else is going to do it, I figured, why not me? My advice is that you need to meet the universe halfway, and you’ll be amazed at the opportunities that will appear.”