Se7en Questions with Actor, Producer and Director
Dawna Lee Heising
Who are some of the artists or some of the works that inspired you to get started in your field? Of today’s current artists, who do you draw inspiration from?
My favorite actor is Angelina Jolie. I admire her strength and charisma onscreen, and she is an incredible actor and international humanitarian. I also admire Anthony Hopkins and Denzel Washington. My uncle Tak Fujimoto was the director of photography on Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Sixth Sense, and his talent, hard work, and excellence in his craft serves as a source of inspiration to me, my family, and to the world.
I have worked with Robert LaSardo, Tom Sizemore, Daniel Baldwin, and Eddie Griffin and I am in awe of their intensity, charisma, and extreme talent.
What have thus far been some of the negatives of being an indie artist in your field?
I am truly grateful to be a working actress. My goal is to return to mainstream films and television projects, while also doing quality work in the indie arena. There have been some hardships during filming indie films, like sleeping on air mattresses on the floor lol, but no real negatives. Every acting experience is a chance to grow your range and improve as an actor.
What have thus far been the positives of being an indie artist in your field?
As I said in the previous question, every acting experience is a chance to grow your range and improve as an actor. Through indie films, I have had the chance to work on films in every genre, and to play numerous different characters. I have also had the chance to work my way up to leading roles in great productions. That being said, I started my career with small roles in huge films and in shows on network television. My goal is to again work on network productions and to be cast in shows on today’s streaming services.
What have been your favorite completed projects to work on up to this point? Can you tell us a little bit about them?
I believe that certain roles and projects have served as turning points in my career. These include:
Cleo the Snake Dancer in Magnum P.I. with Tom Selleck.
Miss Hawaii in Fantasy Island with Ricardo Montalban.
Dancer in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner with Harrison Ford.
Judge in Keith Schofield’s music video for This Head I Hold by Electric Guest.
Reita in Gregory Hatanaka’s action/drama Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance with Tommy Wiseau.
Joan in Jared Masters’ SLINK, starring Art Roberts.
Melanie in Gregory Blair’s horror/comedy Garden Party Massacre.
Barbie in Dustin Ferguson’s sci-fi/action/drama Nemesis 5, which was executive produced by Albert Pyun.
Misery in Param Gill’s black comedy Bad President with Eddie Griffin.
Muse in Nathan Castiel’s music video for Black City Nights by Always You.
Winney Swinney in Adam Steigert’s T.H.E.M. (The Horrific Evil Monsters) with Bishop Stevens.
Skye in John Reign’s family-friendly action/drama Finding Purpose: The Road to Redemption with Aki Aleong.
Connie in Richard Rossi’s faith-based film Canaan Land, executive produced by Rebecca Holden.
Lady Macbeth in B. Luciano Barsuglia’s documentary A Bard for the Ages: Shakespeare’s Timeless Effect, and in Craig Railsback’s Dark Classics.
Hamlet in Tony Mardon’s star-packed horror/drama/comedy The Witches of the Sands; and Craig Railsback’s Fireside Classics.
Nikki Taylor in Walter Hochbrueckner’s horror/murder mystery The Paradise Motel with Mel Novak.
Cynthia in Dustin Ferguson’s Quakeasaurus with Butch Patrick;
Sunny in Teresa Warwick’s family-friendly television series Recipes for Love with Daniel Baldwin and Nicholas Turturro.
The Queen in Dustin Ferguson’s Cobra Strike Force, with Yan Birch.
Miranda in Sandy Slaven’s family-friendly drama The Rose Wagon.
Dr. Epstein in Rod Smith’s psychological horror drama The Legacy.
Penelope the Vampire Queen in Craig Railsback’s horror comedy Down and Out in Vampire Hills.
Evelyn in Adam Werth’s Cursed Waters, starring John Wells, Costas Mandylor, Michael Pare, Robert LaSardo and Vernon Wells.
Crystal in Tom Lopilato’s WordLotto, directed by Johnny Baca.
Claire Flemmich in Adam Werth’s Alien Storm, starring Tom Arnold.
What projects are you currently working on or have planned for the near future?
Lisa in Diana Carter and Tony Devon’s war drama PTSD: A Soldier’s Revenge, starring Daniel Baldwin, Tom Sizemore, Robert LaSardo and many other stars.
Demon in Ming Ballard’s The Red River directed by Jennifer James.
Nikki Taylor in Walter Hochbrueckner’s Next Stop: Hell’s End, the sequel to The Paradise Motel.
Dawna of the Darkness in Diana Carter’s family friendly film Monster On.
Lady Dark in Sean GK’s sci-fi/action/drama X the End Time with Costas Mandylor.
The Devil in Tom Anderson’s Flames of Love, starring Doug Lito.
Ginger in Frank Amsden’s Portuguese Bend, starring G. Larry Butler.
Debbie in Harley Wallen’s Ash and Bone 2, with Billy Wirth, Sean Whalen and Yan Birch.
Ambrosia in Jimmy Drain’s Dick Reno: Monster Slayer, with Eric Roberts and Richard Tyson.
Where do you see yourself in a few years and what would it take for you to consider your career a success?
Hopefully, I will return to network television and get good roles in projects on the national and worldwide streaming services. I am grateful to have Diana Carter as my rockstar agent and she is a definite force of nature! Because of Diana, I am involved in very high quality and high-profile projects with stars attached. I am trying to be very selective about the roles I accept now and am more cognisant about building a quality brand. I want to be known as the best actor that I can possibly be, through both hard work, training, and education. I love Acting and I want to work on significant roles, preferably leads, in great projects. I am very driven, achievement-oriented, and goal-oriented, and I have always felt that the sky is the limit if you work hard enough. I have always reached for the stars and trained my daughters to do the same!
If you couldn’t do this anymore, what career path do you think you would have followed and why?
I have a B.S. in Business Management and an MBA from Pepperdine University, and I am the Vice President of Marketing of Aki Aleong’s Mustard Seed Media Group. In my business career, I worked my way up from a Project Manager at Epson America, handling desktop and notebook computers, to the VP of Marketing at a Point-of-Sale software company called SpotSync. My husband Paul was the VP of Sales & Marketing for ConAgra, the top food company in the nation, where he introduced the Healthy Choice food line. He is now a Certified Financial Planner and has been selected as a Five Star Wealth Manager by Los Angeles Magazine for the last ten years. He still teaches marketing to graduate students at Chapman College and holds financial planning seminars at UCLA. If I weren’t doing films, I probably would still be an executive in Technology Marketing and Publicity, but Acting is definitely more fun and fulfilling!
