Nathan Lee (he/him)
I am a graphic designer, actor, and activist passionate about social change, as well as telling stories of the marginalized communities in high hopes of empowering them. I am a Korean-American who grew up in the Washington D.C. Metro Area, and moved to California eight years ago to pursue my dreams in both acting and design. Given the current social environment–the anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant, white supremacist environment of the former political administration–empowering both the Asian-American and LGBTQAI+ communities is crucial to me. My work as both a designer and an artist demonstrates both my Korean and immigrant roots and my love for European design movements, such as the Bauhaus and Minimalism.
Far From Home
As an actor, it’s at the top of my mind that only one to two percent of leading roles in Hollywood go to Asian-American actors, and when these actors are hired the community is often misrepresented with stereotypes. The Asian-American community wants to see and relate to a more positive and authentic portrayal of themselves, and to see so many as-of-yet untold stories displayed to a wider audience on the big screen. To that end, my thesis project project is a film marketed to an audience of everyone, not just the community itself. The marketing campaign could serve the Asian-American community by making their stories more broadly known, and all other communities by exposing them to yet another point of view.
The title of the film is “Far from Home.” It is the story of a fictional character, Nick, who moves from the suburbs of Washington D.C. to San Francisco, to hopefully discover freedom as a young, gay, Asian-American man. Along the way he learns that life is a party that’s meant to be experienced fully, and finds himself, but also loses parts of himself in the process. Then, on a quiet, normal Tuesday morning, the phone rings. That phone call brings his whole world down around him.
View project website: Far From Home
