Around the age of six, I began daydreaming before I falling asleep at night. Books, movies, overheard family stories were my inspirations. One night I was the desperate princess locked up in a tower, who through her guile and strength, tricked and fought the evil warlords to gain her freedom. The next night I might find myself the devastated daughter who has lost her family in a tragic boating accident. My tears would soak the pillows and blankets, which would in subsequent nights find their way as props in other conjured stories.

I didn't know it at the time, but those forays into my imagination were the start of my journey to become an actress. Growing up in South Korea and in a family that savored Korean and American culture was a stroke of luck. I got to watch well-made low-budget Korean movies and spectacular Hollywood feature films of all genres. These movies broadened and inspired me to fall in love with films. But it was not until my family moved to Germany after I graduated from high school, that I realized I wanted to be an actress.

I had always been shy, but plunged into a foreign environment and not knowing how to speak German exacerbated my shyness – even with my parents . I was too intimidated to tell them I wanted to be an actor. As my fluency in German developed, so did my outgoing, vibrant, confident nature. Within months of telling my parents what I wanted to do with my life, I found myself on a plane heading to San Francisco and Academy of Art University…

…where I thrived.

If you ask me why I am an actor, I can only tell you I am still figuring it out. I know I feel happy, focused, and complete. I know the thrill I feel at getting to know characters and worlds both like my own, and completely foreign to my experience. I also know that because of acting, I no longer daydream before falling asleep.