#406 Flowing with Dianne Doan
Shannon’s guest this week on the Bruce Lee Podcast is another member of the Warrior Family. Dianne Doan plays the cunning and strong tong leader Mai Ling on Warrior but Shannon knows Dianne as a lovely, sensitive and talented soul whose gentleness precedes and surrounds her strength. Originally from Canada, Dianne started off as a dancer until she found acting in high school. Dianne has appeared in a number of hit shows such as Disney’s Descendants, History’s Vikings, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and ABC’s Once Upon a Time. Shannon is so thrilled to share their vulnerable and engrossing conversation with you all about family, acting, Warrior, her first comedy and diving in to the unknown. Shannon had such a great time with Dianne and she knows you will too! So listen in and get to know and love Dianne Doan on the Bruce Lee Podcast!
Get to Know Dianne Doan
Dianne originally hails from Canada. She was born and raised in a small city outside of Vancouver. Her love of the arts was initially ignited through the form of dance. Being placed in her first ballet class at ten years old, Dianne developed the discipline and work ethic that continues to support her work today. Dianne found acting through a ninth-grade elective drama class and has been hooked since. She fell in love with the exploration of life outside of her own.
While she has projects like Disney’s Descendants, History’s Vikings, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, ABC’s Once Upon a Time, and Guidance under her belt, Dianne is best known these days as the ruthless tong leader Mai Ling in HBOMax’s Warrior hailing from the creative minds of Bruce Lee, Jonathan Tropper, Justin Lin and Shannon Lee.
Dianne has been calling Los Angeles home for the past 6 years. In 2018, Dianne lead the short film Our Home Here by AFI alum Angela Chen. It was through this experience working with an Asian American female director that allowed her to discover a deeper desire to continue to seek out, work with, and support AAPI voices.
Dianne will be heading back to Cape Town to reunite with her Warrior family soon to shoot the third season of the Emmy nominated show. Up next, you can catch her in the comedy murder mystery Reunion alongside Jillian Bell, Lil Rel, Billy Magnussen, Jamie Chung and Nina Dobrev. Dianne will also be seen starring in the surreal romantic comedy Better Half opposite Connor Paolo. Dianne hopes to explore directing in the very near future.
Watch the episode with Dianne Doan:
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