August 22, 2025 • 41 mins
Diana Lee Inosanto joins Wes to talk about growing up around martial artists like her dad Dan and "Uncle" Bruce Lee and how that shaped her career. She also reveals how making an indie film didn't have the payout she was hoping for but paid off in a big way by opening the door to Star Wars.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
My next guest you know from the Star Wars series,
The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. She's an actor, director, writer, author, stuntman,
stunt choreographer. Have you ever been a best boy on
a set? We'll get to that in a second. It's
Diana Leonisanto. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hello, Hi everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
What haven't you done on a film set? You've done
just about everything, right, Have you done the gaffing tape
or any of that stuff?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Lights I had to as an independent filmmaker. Sure, when
you're doing an indie film, you kind of have to
learn everybody's department, and so I kind of had to
jump in there from time to time. But you know,
because I had a history of being a stunt woman
working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Walker Text's Ranger
and Save Stop in my younger years, you know, I
(01:05):
would ask questions and I would learn everybody's department because
somehow I had this feeling that I would try to
call the shots on my own path and learn to
be a director. And a producer and a writer, and
I thought the best thing to do is to learn
(01:27):
everybody's department. And I heard I even Wrightman does that
or did that, and that's he had an understanding of
how the machinery of a set should work. So yeah,
I kind of do know to some degree or another.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
That's a pretty good filmmaking role model. Before we I
want to get to your the movie that you made,
your independent movie that you made. But before we do that,
I've got to ask you this, because this is going
to be your first time coming to dragon Con. It's
a convention unlike other conventions, it's really its own beast.
Have you been properly pre that?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Do you know? Do you keep hearing this? I yees,
So this will be my first time at dragon Con,
and yeah, I keep hearing it has a very unique
fingerprint compared to all the other comic cons. I'm like, Okay,
I have to find out what this is about. So yeah,
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mean, the main thing that you need to know
is you know, you'll have your schedule for events and
places to be and that will be I'm sure similar
to other events. What you need to know about everyone
else that will be there is when people say what
time does this thing shut down at night? Uh, the
answer is Monday afternoon. And when people say no, no, no,
(02:40):
but like each night, what times it close? And it's
like you have to listen to what I'm saying. It
starts on Thursday, it shuts down Monday afternoon.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I heard something about this. It's just got this ongoing heartbeat.
It will not stop.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It is a costume party that just does not stop.
And by the way, there's this massive pop culture convention
going on as well, and it's just one of the
most fun things. And it's all inside hotels. I mean
parts of it, as far as the vendors are in
a convention center, but the actual lifeblood of this convention
is in these hotels and you're just like you're on
(03:20):
a cruise ship just having a giant costume party. And
that's what's so wonderful about it.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Oh that's so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Oh I can't wait. And I love the costumes that
people come up with and they're still creative. I just
the level creativity is amazing and that it's a real
joy to see that.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
You know, So you and I have something in common.
We both have middle names that are inspired by, like
a friend of our parents. In my case, my middle
name comes from one of my parents' friends who's a
retired insurance agent in Dothan, Alabama. And I mean no
disrespect to the insurance agents of the world, and especially
(04:00):
my parents' friend, who is a great guy. Yours has
a little more punch pun intended.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
You think, just a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And again no offense to anybody in the insurance industry.
But you know, I mean heaven Bruce Lee is a godfather.
What was that like growing up?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Uh, you know for me as a kid when I
would see and he was uncle Bruce for me, I
didn't understand that he was famous. I just thought he
was my dad's martial arts partner. I would always see
him as a child working out in the backyard and
(04:44):
hitting boards and breaking them, or we would go over
to Uncle Bruce's house and he was with the family.
You know, there was you know, Linda, there was Brandon
and his daughter Shannon, who was just a baby, and
there would be martial artists in the backyard working out,
kicking the bag, punching the bag, you name it. I
(05:07):
just thought that was uh the world that he was
about just purely martial arts. But then I realized later
when we went to the drive in and what we
were seeing a movie that Uncle Bruce was in, and
I thought, oh my gosh, uncle Bruce is a movie star.
I didn't know that there were.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I think it was a theory that we were watching.
And then no, I'm sorry, Return of the Dragon, and
then there was Chinese connection because it was like back
to back movies. I thought I didn't know this. And
then later on, as a child, somebody had like this
cassette tape I can't remember it was, and they would
show this black and white footage of Uncle Bruce in
(05:49):
Green Hornet. And then somebody got some other footage and
showed my dad working with on Green Hornet when he
was doubling an actor, an Academy Award winning acts named Maco.
And it's just, you know, it's just amazing that, you know,
I look back, man like what a unique what a
unique fate, And I just feel more like I've I
(06:11):
had more of a historian's eye of watching this, even
though I grew up as a child around these circles.
But it is really I recognize how uniqueness is and
I'm really grateful.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Your dad in his own right is a legend, Dan
and Asanto. And this is, like you say, this is
the world that you grew up in. This is just
sort of what you were, what was all around you.
You've got a family full of martial artists.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Right right exactly, So yeah, dad is pretty pretty yeah
he and he himself has really shifted, uh and changed
the game in martial arts in many ways and in
many branches from so there's a there's a military branch
that my dad has influenced, there's the entertainment branch. Uh,
(06:56):
there's the law enforcement branch. And then for people who
just want to open up a martial arts school and
just teach to their communities, there's that branch. So he's
quite quite the big cheese in the martial arts world.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Or Dragon Con pregame show right after this. So coming
from this background, seeing this, obviously this has an impression
on you as far as you grow up and what
you decide you want to do career wise. Did you
(07:33):
have any other choice? Was there anything else that you
could do other than act and work in fight choreography
and things and as a stunt woman and these kinds
of things. Was there another. Was there an option B
or was this always the plan?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You know?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Actually, my dad kind of naturally let me find my
own path. He wanted me to understand and learn martial
arts as a child, just because he felt as a
young lady growing up that I should have some basic
understanding of self protection. And then he wanted me to
find the joy in my heritage. I mean, for me,
(08:08):
this is my roots, these are family roots, this is
my heritage, my culture, and he felt that it was
important to understand that and to be proud of that
as far as you know, tapping into that later on
and it becoming a vehicle to be in Hollywood. No,
I really was trying to be more straightforward just being
(08:29):
an actress. I didn't want to have to do martial arts,
to be honest with you. But my dad's sister, her
name was Lilia. They used to call her Lola Nie
and then she shifted back to her for her given name,
which was Lilia in Asanto. But she was an actress
in the nineteen seventies, and she did a show called
(08:52):
Anna and the King, which was based on kind of
like a spin off the movie on the King and I,
and it showed on TV and she had a small role.
She did one episode and I thought, oh my gosh,
this is this beautiful, this is brilliant hell my aunt
was becoming this other character. And so that really attracted
me to becoming an actress. But I never thought I would,
(09:16):
you know, I would have to combine those two worlds
of being an actress with my martial arts background. I
really didn't, but it did pave a way for me
because in my earlier years when I tried to be
an actress, there just weren't a role A lot of
there weren't really any role for my type. They didn't
know what to do with a half white, half Asian woman.
(09:39):
I just didn't look right for either any role that
I was really auditioning for. And then they would say, well,
you look at Spantic, but I didn't speak Spanish that well,
even though I do have some Spanish ancestry. So really
becoming a stunt woman was the best way for me
to stay in the Hollywood system, and my martial arts
served as my doorway.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Working as a fight choreographer and stunt woman. And I
would imagine that community is probably a pretty tight one.
I mean, that's kind of what I hear from people
is that it's a pretty tight community. Everybody looks out
for each other and understands what everybody's going through. Is
that accurate or is that not an accurate portrayal of
your experience?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I would say they're different groups, different branches, because you
have stun associations, and then you have people that the
later on when you have like eighty seven North eighty
seventy eleven, those guys all came out of my dad's
camp and they went more how should they say, corporate
or business and they developed their own model, which I
thought was really smart. And so yeah, no, I can't
(10:44):
really say. Even if people are familiar with each other,
you will definitely have different groups. What I do find
is you have your martial arts stunt group, then you
have people that are more into horses. Then you have
people that are more you know, motorcycle, you know, racing cars,
they have their own specialty. So I see those are
(11:06):
very specific groups. But usually as a stunt person, at
least when I was a stunt woman, you're kind of
expected to tap in and at least and have an
understanding of the other worlds of being a stunt person.
So I was sometimes expected to, you know, kind of
go in there and learn how to at least do
it a little bit of some high falls that I
(11:27):
hated it because that's not my forte, so I call
them short high falls. That's my forte was always martial arts.
And then I also worked in stage, so that's where
some of the fight choreography worked in because it kept
me blue to acting still even though I was doing
stunts on big television and films, I could still continue
(11:48):
my cratch as an actress by having connection to the
stage world. And then sometimes it would ask both my
husband and I to do some fight choreography there as well.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Pro wrestlers and I think stunt the stunt community have
a lot in common. I've been interviewed a lot of
wrestlers over the years, got to know some. This has
kind of been on my mind lately because one of
the people I interviewed and kind of got to know
a little bit was hul Kgan. He obviously just passed away.
And you hear from those guys about the beating that
their bodies take, and for them it's yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Every day, you know, Evan Courageous actually is a friend
of ours, and yeah, they do, and my husband worked
with Hulk Hogan on Oh gosh it was it was
called Three Ninjas at Mega Mountains. So yeah, but they do,
and that's a much more unique setting because I don't
believe their union if I think at one time they
(12:43):
were trying to and so sometimes I have heard that
they have to really suck it up basically and deal
with a lot of pain, you know, And it's a
tough world, it really is.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I have one experience with it. I was asked to
open a WWE show in the ring once and it
involved me eventually getting knocked out in the ring with
a championship belt by someone who knew what they were doing.
They knew how to hit me properly with it. I
just didn't know the fall technique. And I had wrestlers
backstage telling me how to fall and what I was
(13:20):
supposed to do, and I did exactly what they said,
and I was sore for at least a month. There's
no That was my mid twenties. There's no way I
could do it now. And I could just imagine that
recovery process. You get to a point where you're just saying,
this is taking longer and longer to recover that. You
hear athletes say it all the time. Football players say,
(13:40):
you know, I'm not even I'm still sore and it's
Saturday and I've got a game on Sunday. So I
would imagine that probably would have also been something that
would make you think, well, let's try to do less
of that and more acting.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, I mean I would, well, definitely for me, because
my true passion was in storytelling and acting. The stunt
thing was just because I happened to be my forte
and being coming from the family I did was I
could do a lot of different martial arts styles and
systems because my father was so good about opening the
(14:19):
doors and the saying and preaching more the philosophy which
was jikundo. I don't know if you're familiar with this term,
but that is the term my godfather coined, and it's
really more of a philosophy about exploring. And you have
to remember the time period that they came from, with
in the nineteen sixties where people are like, oh, you're
a karate man, you only sick with karate, you only
(14:42):
study Japanese if you're you know, if you're a Filipino martialist, Well, no,
you just only do Filipino marti arts. So the idea
of crossing over and training in other arts and systems
at that time period was considered taboo. But my godfather,
along with some other martial arts of his contemporaries of
his time, that you know, we need to explore, and
especially in America when you're dealing with so many different cultures,
(15:06):
he just felt this was really important to explore. So
that's why he was into boxing and kickboxing and vencing
even And so my dad, after his my godfather's death,
was really good about trying to explore different styles and
sistems because he felt martial arts in particularly his school
(15:27):
was sort of like a university of martial arts, and
so I grew up around that, and that's why I
could kind of bounce into any style or system pretty easily,
and he gave me variety.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
My godfather could have gotten you a good deal on
homeowners and care insurance.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So that insurance sometimes some insurance kind of like you
do what for a living?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Oh, I don't know, we did not you.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Or Dragon con pregame show right after this. This is
where the story gets so great and I love like
the eventual payoff for this because you decided I'm gonna
(16:22):
make my own movie, and you kind of talked a
little bit about some of the things like leading up
to that when we first got started. But you sat down,
you write the sin say, you produce this little bit
of a family affair going on, but you make this
independent movie. And I know, like, like everybody has the
(16:42):
high hopes, man, this is it, this is gonna be
the thing, and it wasn't quite what you were wanting,
but it eventually paid off, right like a later, a
massive like it's like you put something out there and
you think, okay, and and just you know, you go,
this is where this is going to go, and then
(17:02):
it doesn't. And then it's got to be and I
don't want to put words it, but it's got to
be deflating. But then you get this thing on the
back end where you go, well, wait a minute, this
is why I made.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
This movie, right right, So let me back up here.
So when I did, when I wrote the sense and
directed it, really I was there were a couple of
people that inspired me to just try to be an
indie filmmaker because I could feel that I was aging
out with my body. My body wasn't healing as fast
as a stone, because it's kind of like being a
(17:34):
football player meets ballerina and at some point you kind
of had to retire, at least semi retire, and pick
very carefully what you can do physically. So I thought, well,
uncle Bruce, he decided to be an independent filmmaker basically
when he went to Hong Kong because he couldn't make
it at the time in America. Well, following his lead,
(17:58):
and then there were other acts that also I noted,
that were writing and directing their own material, and one
of them happened to be John Favreau. Very important name,
keep that in mind, and so I just started studying
people that were independent filmmakers. I did my best to
write what I thought was a movie that made sense
(18:20):
for me, that I felt should express who I am.
And when it came out, it was one of the
first digital indie excuse me, one of the first digital
films to go out there. But the problem was that
came out during the Great during the Great Recession and
during the crash, and for a lot of filmmakers, we
paid the price if we had a project out there,
(18:41):
so it was hard, you know, So my film I
knew was going out there, but I wasn't making any money,
just like a lot of filmmakers weren't, and it was painful,
and I just thought, well, you know, it's out there,
and at least I hope that it can make at
least a difference, because it is in my mind that
he has a humanitarian mes And well, I knew that.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
It's interesting that you say that because I think and
obviously this being early on in the digital release world,
and then I think, because this is about seven o eight, right,
and I think, I think, honestly, the message of the
movie would have hit more now than then. I think
maybe it was a little bit ahead of its time, right.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I get told that quite a bit, that it was
ahead of its time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I mean I started watching it and I start thinking, Okay,
there feels like there's a little karate kid influence to it.
Obviously there's more to the story than just that. And
then I see Keith David right at the beginning, and
I'm like, I'm in, I'm all in. And I know
Keith David not a large part in it, but a
significant part in it, but a huge fan of Keith David.
(19:48):
How did that come about. How did you get him involved?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Well, my manager Kerkkintman, who was also a producer on
the film as long was you know, my team. About
the producers, there was my husband Ron Blicky.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
They we all had sort of our own initial contact
to people in the business. So he was able to
work out, you know, contact with Keith and he came aboard.
He read the script, and it was the same thing
with time Mal who's been a lot of Disney projects.
And I was just very lucky that these people believed
(20:20):
in my film, and they believed in the message, and
they saw that this was not some kind of be
Hong Kong like like like almost like a I think
people were expecting more of a Cynthia Rothrock or don
Dragon Wilson type movie coming out of me. But that's
not me, that's not that's authentically not who I am,
you know. And I actually got some pushback from the
(20:45):
martial arts community because they're like, wait a minute, you're
doing a movie about you know that takes place during
the AIDS epidemic, about a gay teenager who is a
friend befriended by a female martial arts teacher, what you know?
And I there was some people that were not happy
that I made my movie. They really weren't. But then
I found this whole other crop of fans that were
(21:07):
coming and going, thank you, thank you for making this movie,
thank you for doing something that represents me. I had teachers,
I even had martial arts teachers that said, I have
gay students and they don't know what to do. But
I showed them movie and it gave them hope. And
so it was an extraordinary the path. I had the
support of the Matthew Shepherd Foundation. I had people reaching
(21:29):
out from Washington, DC who were connected to Congress and
they were working on the Matthew Shepherd Act, which was
basically known as the Hate Crime Bill Act. So the
timing in itself was in that sense was actually kind
of perfect. But from a career standpoint, it was really
(21:50):
difficult because I still couldn't get an agent, I still
couldn't get representation. So lo and behold, it's a miracle
that ten years down the road it would be Dave
Filoni that would discover me on Google.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Well, that's the beautiful part of this is in Star
Wars from the very beginning, obviously it's got this you know,
old war movie influence in it with the tie fighters
and things, but it is core. It's very much a
tribute in so many ways influenced by Samurai films. And
(22:29):
so when you've got people like you mentioned Jon Favreau
Dave Filoni, who were two guys who understand the George
Lucas vision. They get it. They've tried to do everything
they can to carry the torch and say we're going
to move forward. Felony of course, the Clone Wars and
Rebels and all those animated things, and then venturing into
actually doing live action and being able to bring some
(22:51):
of those characters that he created inspired by the vision
of Lucas to TV and eventually to film. There he
is going, can't we find somebody who kind of fits
this but also has a martial arts background who can act?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
And yeah, and that John Favrel, you know, and you
know that was John favreall initially that I get from
what I understand was John Favrel that really felt strongly
that we need to find somebody who's authentically a martial
artist but hopefully can act. And then Dave goes, Okay,
then let me try to go find it. So it
was really the both of them that are tied to
(23:28):
my fate beautiful and forever thankful. And it's so weird
because John Favreaul was always one of my heroes and Dave.
I knew who Dave was because of my children, particularly
my son who has autism. We would watch the Clone Wars,
we would watch Rebels. I went to take my kids
to see The Clone Wars when it came out in
(23:49):
the movie theaters. That's how much I was. I loved
Star Wars, so I was familiar with Dave already. And
it's just so weird how the ties of face worked
for me, you know? And uh or I should say
what my characters is the threads of faith. It really
is wild and I pinched myself all the time how
(24:13):
everything turned out for me.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I really do the way that they audition people for
these roles, you don't really even know what you're auditioning for.
Uh So, so you go in and you're, what, just
doing a read and you don't even really know. Did
you have some idea this may be Star Wars related
since it involved them.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well there, here's the thing. So the way it happened
for me, I got a call from my manager terror Kiteman,
who was again the producer of my indie film, and
we are and we're also dear friends. And by the way,
we are a major Star Wars fan. So we used
to always have this tradition every holiday or when it
was our birthday, so always by each other. Star Wars gets,
(24:53):
you know, socks too, brushes to paste. We didn't care,
you know. And so he called me. I believe it
was around October November, and he says, hey, you, I
just got a call and it's for Mandalorian and the
producers there knowing you. I'm like, I don't know anyone
(25:14):
connected to the Mandalorian whatsoever. And I actually thought he
was joking with me. He goes, I'm not joking, and
I go, come on, He goes, no, I think this
is real. I really do think this is real because
I've had people actually do faith auditions for me, and
that's a whole other story. And that's why you need
a manager to vet people to make sure it's real.
(25:36):
And he goes, it's real because they want you to
sign an NDA and I check that out. It's real
and you only have three days to get to auditions,
and it was I think I got the call, like
on a Thursday night or a Friday, and I had
to spend an in date and when I got the side, yeah,
you're correct. You would never know in a million years
(25:57):
that it was Star Wars. To me, it read more
as a period piece war type movie maybe, And I
did get a sense that I was a villain. And
the hard part was I had no one to practice
lines was but my son was autism because my my
husband was away, and I just thought, I have got
to just drill this. And it had been years, but
(26:20):
I thought I can tap in to my theater roots,
and I knew looking at the Star Wars universe, one
thing I sensed, if this was a villain, there was
a certain way they kind of kind of tap into
that almost mid Atlantic or a British accent, sort of
like they did in the old fifties movies. And I
went in, I auditioned. It was the one. I thought,
(26:41):
if I don't get this, and I assumed honestly that
I didn't wouldn't get it. But I thought, they're gonna
know I'm an actress. They're good. They're gonna know that
I'm not just a martial artist, but I am an actress.
And sure not. Three to four days later, I got
a call and they said you're in. You know they
want you. But I still didn't know what that meant.
(27:02):
I just thought it was going to be a one
liner and maybe they want me to do I hit
in the kick and that's it. I had no idea
it would explode into what it's become today. Now, I
had no idea whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
How close were you with your your initial read as
far as what you thought they wanted to what you
ended up actually doing on screen?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Oh my god, that's a great question. You're the first
one to ever ask that. Pretty darn clothes, Pretty darn clothes,
And again you nailed it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I mean, the character is, I mean perfect, your debut,
your debut in the show. It's one of those things
where you're like, you know, it's so strange because being
a fan of Ahsoka in general, and I've spent you know,
a lot of time chatting with Ashley Eckstein and her
husband and conventions and things, and so it was it
(27:59):
was an adjustment to begin with, because you go, Okay,
I understand they're going for a slightly different look overall
for what Ahsoka is going to be a little maybe
a little bigger, a little more formidable, I guess is what,
because they've they'd aged her up a bit from where
we'd last seen her, So they go, Rosario Dawson, You're like,
she sounds perfect. It was one of those casting dreams,
(28:21):
I think for the nerds behind the scenes, like that's
who we want, and then we finally see her and
you're like, oh my gosh, I'm nerding out. Here's here.
It is Ahsoka finally live action and oh who's that?
Who is Morgan Elsbeth? Who is this?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And the funny thing is everybody that night on the
on the Jedi episode is what you're talking about on
season two, that that particular episode not only was the
world finding out what you know about what Grogu's name was.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
I did not know that my character was called Morgan Elsip.
I was never told that. I just knew I was
the magistrate. Isn't that funny?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Not really surprising though, because everything's got to be super
hush hush, right.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Did you know everything was?
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Did they already have plans for you to come back
for this?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Well?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I guess the Ahsoka series maybe wasn't even official by
that point was it.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
No, I knew nothing about the Ahsoka show at all.
In fact, what I would later if my understanding is correctly,
I think they needed to know if people would truly
receive a live action of Soka by watching the Jedi
episode on the Mandalorian, and I think because of the reaction,
(29:41):
they're like, Okay, this can be a possibility. But I
didn't know that at the time, and I'm kind of
glad I didn't know that. I just wanted to be
in the present and saye focused. I wanted to be
there for Rosario, especially with our fight scene, and especially
because George Lucas came and visited the set and Dave
PILONEI was directing, and John was. I just thought, oh
(30:01):
my gosh. You know, there is a huge amount of
pressure when you're seeing these major forces in the industry,
and all you want to do is just be there
for them and to please and to make sure that
you're you're doing the best uh for this franchise that
you absolutely love.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
You know, one of those cases where you just put
your best thing out there and it paid off later
because then Ahsoka comes along and they're ready for you.
In a much more extended role. What was that experience
like coming from Mandalorian over to the Ahsoka series.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I well, the irony is, you get to remember when
the Mandalorian, particularly our episode especially came out, it was
during COVID, so it was really weird. And I'm living
in California, So the weird thing for me was to
be filming on this amazing set call the Volume, isolated
(31:00):
in my home for months, right with my kids, with
our family, and we're just counting the days till Mandalorian
season two comes on. But when that particular episode hit,
it was a life changer. And then it was months
later on that I would get the call, and it
was more when California was starting to open up, and
(31:22):
I just happened to be at Disneyland and I got Ironically,
it's so weird. I was at Disneyland and I got
the call for my manager like they're going to do
on a Soca show and they want you, And I
screamed and cried and I just couldn't believe it, you know.
And yeah, it's been very surreal for me.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I absolutely love it. What a what a great path
that you were on, and you had no idea you
were even on.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
The path right exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I mean you've put something out, you put some art
out and it connected with some people, which is what
you want art to do. But little did you know
how this would pay off in such a big way
for someone who was a huge fan of Star Wars.
I know you spent a lot of time working with
Ray Stevenson. If you could just talk a little bit
about him. What a loss that was?
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Yeah, that was. That was a painful loss for all
of us because we all bonded being on the set.
And again, we were filming during COVID, so we were
under some pretty strict regulations and some rules about safety,
and a lot of us were not able to see
our loved ones, and so we had each other and
(32:40):
we became this unit, this family ers. I love to
say Ohana because my part of my family's from Hawaii,
and I loved the Ohana spirit that was around all
of us, both cast and crew. And it was so
beautiful to just be able to have this immediate family.
(33:01):
And what was really nice is we got together to
see you know, we had a chance to see each
other at Star Wars celebration in London, and I'm so
happy that Ray could see the love of the fans
and could see what Ahsoka was becoming and how beautiful
and wonderful he looked. Even in the trailer, you know,
(33:23):
he hadn't seen the show, but you could see that
he was a presence, and I'm just so glad that
he had that because when we found out that we
had lost him, it was so painful, especially for Yvonne
and I because we had a lot of time on
the set with Ray and it was it was terrible.
It was I mean, I can't explain it, but it
(33:46):
just was such a major loss. But we are all
still very connected to Ray's family and his children and
his community and a Visa Spain. There is now a
film festival slash music festival called Rolla a Ray of
Light Awards in a Visa, Spain, and it is his
(34:10):
wife Betta that is at the helm along with her
other beautiful partners that have are continuing this beautiful vision
that Ray wanted. So yeah, Ray, we miss him, and
he was definitely what I call poetry in motion.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Or dragon con pregame show. Right after this, we get
to the end of the Ahsoka series and we get
to those final scenes and there I am watching and
(34:50):
then your character Morgan Elizabeth gets the message from Throng
that you're going to have to stay behind for the Empire.
I thought, right, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no no, because sometimes there's just villains and stories and
shows and movies and you just you like them so
(35:12):
much you don't want them to go anywhere. And it
seemed very apparent where things were heading. But we're talking
about Night Sisters. It's not like we are. It's not
like they're always gone, You're.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
True, true, I mean yeah, I mean I don't know,
but I mean they really blasted where she was. That's
the one thing I noticed, like, Wow, they really blasted
that whole area. Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
So well, yeah, Darth mall got cut in half. And
they're from the same planet, so you know, anything's possible, right.
Darth Maul was like a cockroach. They couldn't get rid
of him. He just kept coming back, and he was
more interesting every time. So I'm just yeah, and there's
a chance.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Right. Well, you know, I guess Star Wars is about
some form of hope, So does that apply to a
nice I don't know, But you know what one thing
I was happy about is we talked, and I wanted
very much to be able to at least if I
was going to die, I wanted to die by my
(36:21):
own sword. But they did a combination thing. I died
by my own sword and a lightsaber. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
And it was an important sword in the whole story
to go with that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
So, yeah, the town's in blade, right.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yeah, I know that one of your in hearing your
story and you talk about there's a period of time
where there weren't roles for you. They weren't looking for
actresses who looked like you necessarily, And I'm assuming and
I've read that one of the people that you respect
a lot, and a lot of us respect her. I
also host a space podcast that I do, and I've
(36:58):
interviewed a number of astronauts. I've not interviewed this particular
astronaut yet. That would be fantastic, But made Jemison means
a lot to you, doesn't she?
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Well yeah, I mean she her quote, Yeah, so you
saw that, huh.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yes, But her her quote, like, that's something that you've
carried over into into your life, and I would imagine
it applies certainly to that path that you went on.
Of you know, the roles aren't there. Let's go find
my own path, Let's find what I can do, and
then eventually that leading to you know, this other thing
that ended up being exactly maybe what you wanted, even
(37:34):
if you didn't dare to wish it yet.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Yeah, yeah, and you know, you just I do believe
that when you put in the work and the time
and you can manifest something for you. And I say
when I used the word manifest, I don't mean that
to sound woo woo by any means, but I'm really
talking about when you really focus in. You know, the
human mind is capable of doing great things, and it
(38:00):
may not look exactly what you hoped for or liked
or wanted, but you can get pretty darn close. And
so I am very happy that I took the risk,
but it was a calculated risk, and by the way
things came out, I just feel so grateful because it's
(38:20):
not just what happened to me, but it's also the
journey of the people I meet. Like let's take for instance,
the fact that I get to do comic cons and
meet the fans and they are incredible and I love it.
I feel like it's the equivalent of being a musician
who gets to connect with their art with the fans
(38:41):
who appreciate their music. What's the same thing when you're
at comic Con. It's kind of like being a musician
and you get to meet the fans who really love
the work you've done, the writing, you participated in, the
sandbox that you got to play in creatively. It's really
just a privilege and an honor.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I got to spend time with Ashley's husband, David ex Stein, who,
of course you know, World Series MVP for the Cargo. Yeah,
and we were just talking about and while Ashley is
interacting with her fans, he and I are just kind
of standing back and we're just kind of taking some
of that in and talking and He's just like, the
fandom here is the same sort of fantom you get
(39:22):
in sports. It's just for a different thing. You're just
wearing a different uniform or costume or those kinds of things.
So you do the conventions, you're you're coming to Dragon Con.
There's a nice there's a few of you guys with
some Star Wars connections this time around, and I know
that the fans will be excited for that. Obviously, Star Wars.
(39:44):
Dragon Con is coming up very fast, so I guess
as we wind things down, any message you'd like to
give to the fans that are thinking about coming up
to see you at a dragon Con.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Oh my gosh, just come and say hi, well, talk
Star Wars. Anything you like, and I'll probably do my
own survey of asking you what was your favorite show,
What's what you loved, what inspired you? I mean, those
are the questions I love asking a fan, you know,
And I'm just I'm just looking forward to it and
I can't wait to see those amazing costumes.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Diana Lee and Asanto, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Thank you very much. Wes, You're wonderful.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
And that'll do it for this year's dragon Con pregame show.
Thanks to our guests Diana Lee and Asanto, Sam Whitword,
Katie Sacoff, and Charles McFall. Thanks also to doctor Sean Cruisin,
my co host on the Mate of Stars podcast. You
can check that out wherever you listen to your podcasts.
If you want to learn more about Nami Georgia, visit
(40:45):
Nami dot org. To learn more about Columbus State University's
Coca Cola Space Science Center, visit cc SSC dot org
stands for Coca Cola Space Science Center CCSSC dot org.
To learn more about dragon Con and to purchase those memberships,
you can go to DragonCon dot org. Thanks to Sam Tillman,
(41:09):
Greg Dan, the whole media relations team at dragon Con,
and thank you for listening. Hope to see you at dragoncn.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
This has been the dragon Con pregame show, powered by
Columbus State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center. Learn more
at ccs SC dot org. For an updated guest list,
visit DragonCon dot org. Transision now
This is the Dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
My next guest you know from the Star Wars series,
The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. She's an actor, director, writer, author, stuntman,
stunt choreographer. Have you ever been a best boy on
a set? We'll get to that in a second. It's
Diana Leonisanto. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hello, Hi everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
What haven't you done on a film set? You've done
just about everything, right, Have you done the gaffing tape
or any of that stuff?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Lights I had to as an independent filmmaker. Sure, when
you're doing an indie film, you kind of have to
learn everybody's department, and so I kind of had to
jump in there from time to time. But you know,
because I had a history of being a stunt woman
working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Walker Text's Ranger
and Save Stop in my younger years, you know, I
(01:05):
would ask questions and I would learn everybody's department because
somehow I had this feeling that I would try to
call the shots on my own path and learn to
be a director. And a producer and a writer, and
I thought the best thing to do is to learn
(01:27):
everybody's department. And I heard I even Wrightman does that
or did that, and that's he had an understanding of
how the machinery of a set should work. So yeah,
I kind of do know to some degree or another.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
That's a pretty good filmmaking role model. Before we I
want to get to your the movie that you made,
your independent movie that you made. But before we do that,
I've got to ask you this, because this is going
to be your first time coming to dragon Con. It's
a convention unlike other conventions, it's really its own beast.
Have you been properly pre that?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Do you know? Do you keep hearing this? I yees,
So this will be my first time at dragon Con,
and yeah, I keep hearing it has a very unique
fingerprint compared to all the other comic cons. I'm like, Okay,
I have to find out what this is about. So yeah,
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mean, the main thing that you need to know
is you know, you'll have your schedule for events and
places to be and that will be I'm sure similar
to other events. What you need to know about everyone
else that will be there is when people say what
time does this thing shut down at night? Uh, the
answer is Monday afternoon. And when people say no, no, no,
(02:40):
but like each night, what times it close? And it's
like you have to listen to what I'm saying. It
starts on Thursday, it shuts down Monday afternoon.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I heard something about this. It's just got this ongoing heartbeat.
It will not stop.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It is a costume party that just does not stop.
And by the way, there's this massive pop culture convention
going on as well, and it's just one of the
most fun things. And it's all inside hotels. I mean
parts of it, as far as the vendors are in
a convention center, but the actual lifeblood of this convention
is in these hotels and you're just like you're on
(03:20):
a cruise ship just having a giant costume party. And
that's what's so wonderful about it.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Oh that's so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Oh I can't wait. And I love the costumes that
people come up with and they're still creative. I just
the level creativity is amazing and that it's a real
joy to see that.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
You know, So you and I have something in common.
We both have middle names that are inspired by, like
a friend of our parents. In my case, my middle
name comes from one of my parents' friends who's a
retired insurance agent in Dothan, Alabama. And I mean no
disrespect to the insurance agents of the world, and especially
(04:00):
my parents' friend, who is a great guy. Yours has
a little more punch pun intended.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
You think, just a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And again no offense to anybody in the insurance industry.
But you know, I mean heaven Bruce Lee is a godfather.
What was that like growing up?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Uh, you know for me as a kid when I
would see and he was uncle Bruce for me, I
didn't understand that he was famous. I just thought he
was my dad's martial arts partner. I would always see
him as a child working out in the backyard and
(04:44):
hitting boards and breaking them, or we would go over
to Uncle Bruce's house and he was with the family.
You know, there was you know, Linda, there was Brandon
and his daughter Shannon, who was just a baby, and
there would be martial artists in the backyard working out,
kicking the bag, punching the bag, you name it. I
(05:07):
just thought that was uh the world that he was
about just purely martial arts. But then I realized later
when we went to the drive in and what we
were seeing a movie that Uncle Bruce was in, and
I thought, oh my gosh, uncle Bruce is a movie star.
I didn't know that there were.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I think it was a theory that we were watching.
And then no, I'm sorry, Return of the Dragon, and
then there was Chinese connection because it was like back
to back movies. I thought I didn't know this. And
then later on, as a child, somebody had like this
cassette tape I can't remember it was, and they would
show this black and white footage of Uncle Bruce in
(05:49):
Green Hornet. And then somebody got some other footage and
showed my dad working with on Green Hornet when he
was doubling an actor, an Academy Award winning acts named Maco.
And it's just, you know, it's just amazing that, you know,
I look back, man like what a unique what a
unique fate, And I just feel more like I've I
(06:11):
had more of a historian's eye of watching this, even
though I grew up as a child around these circles.
But it is really I recognize how uniqueness is and
I'm really grateful.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Your dad in his own right is a legend, Dan
and Asanto. And this is, like you say, this is
the world that you grew up in. This is just
sort of what you were, what was all around you.
You've got a family full of martial artists.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Right right exactly, So yeah, dad is pretty pretty yeah
he and he himself has really shifted, uh and changed
the game in martial arts in many ways and in
many branches from so there's a there's a military branch
that my dad has influenced, there's the entertainment branch. Uh,
(06:56):
there's the law enforcement branch. And then for people who
just want to open up a martial arts school and
just teach to their communities, there's that branch. So he's
quite quite the big cheese in the martial arts world.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Or Dragon Con pregame show right after this. So coming
from this background, seeing this, obviously this has an impression
on you as far as you grow up and what
you decide you want to do career wise. Did you
(07:33):
have any other choice? Was there anything else that you
could do other than act and work in fight choreography
and things and as a stunt woman and these kinds
of things. Was there another. Was there an option B
or was this always the plan?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You know?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Actually, my dad kind of naturally let me find my
own path. He wanted me to understand and learn martial
arts as a child, just because he felt as a
young lady growing up that I should have some basic
understanding of self protection. And then he wanted me to
find the joy in my heritage. I mean, for me,
(08:08):
this is my roots, these are family roots, this is
my heritage, my culture, and he felt that it was
important to understand that and to be proud of that
as far as you know, tapping into that later on
and it becoming a vehicle to be in Hollywood. No,
I really was trying to be more straightforward just being
(08:29):
an actress. I didn't want to have to do martial arts,
to be honest with you. But my dad's sister, her
name was Lilia. They used to call her Lola Nie
and then she shifted back to her for her given name,
which was Lilia in Asanto. But she was an actress
in the nineteen seventies, and she did a show called
(08:52):
Anna and the King, which was based on kind of
like a spin off the movie on the King and I,
and it showed on TV and she had a small role.
She did one episode and I thought, oh my gosh,
this is this beautiful, this is brilliant hell my aunt
was becoming this other character. And so that really attracted
me to becoming an actress. But I never thought I would,
(09:16):
you know, I would have to combine those two worlds
of being an actress with my martial arts background. I
really didn't, but it did pave a way for me
because in my earlier years when I tried to be
an actress, there just weren't a role A lot of
there weren't really any role for my type. They didn't
know what to do with a half white, half Asian woman.
(09:39):
I just didn't look right for either any role that
I was really auditioning for. And then they would say, well,
you look at Spantic, but I didn't speak Spanish that well,
even though I do have some Spanish ancestry. So really
becoming a stunt woman was the best way for me
to stay in the Hollywood system, and my martial arts
served as my doorway.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Working as a fight choreographer and stunt woman. And I
would imagine that community is probably a pretty tight one.
I mean, that's kind of what I hear from people
is that it's a pretty tight community. Everybody looks out
for each other and understands what everybody's going through. Is
that accurate or is that not an accurate portrayal of
your experience?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I would say they're different groups, different branches, because you
have stun associations, and then you have people that the
later on when you have like eighty seven North eighty
seventy eleven, those guys all came out of my dad's
camp and they went more how should they say, corporate
or business and they developed their own model, which I
thought was really smart. And so yeah, no, I can't
(10:44):
really say. Even if people are familiar with each other,
you will definitely have different groups. What I do find
is you have your martial arts stunt group, then you
have people that are more into horses. Then you have
people that are more you know, motorcycle, you know, racing cars,
they have their own specialty. So I see those are
(11:06):
very specific groups. But usually as a stunt person, at
least when I was a stunt woman, you're kind of
expected to tap in and at least and have an
understanding of the other worlds of being a stunt person.
So I was sometimes expected to, you know, kind of
go in there and learn how to at least do
it a little bit of some high falls that I
(11:27):
hated it because that's not my forte, so I call
them short high falls. That's my forte was always martial arts.
And then I also worked in stage, so that's where
some of the fight choreography worked in because it kept
me blue to acting still even though I was doing
stunts on big television and films, I could still continue
(11:48):
my cratch as an actress by having connection to the
stage world. And then sometimes it would ask both my
husband and I to do some fight choreography there as well.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Pro wrestlers and I think stunt the stunt community have
a lot in common. I've been interviewed a lot of
wrestlers over the years, got to know some. This has
kind of been on my mind lately because one of
the people I interviewed and kind of got to know
a little bit was hul Kgan. He obviously just passed away.
And you hear from those guys about the beating that
their bodies take, and for them it's yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Every day, you know, Evan Courageous actually is a friend
of ours, and yeah, they do, and my husband worked
with Hulk Hogan on Oh gosh it was it was
called Three Ninjas at Mega Mountains. So yeah, but they do,
and that's a much more unique setting because I don't
believe their union if I think at one time they
(12:43):
were trying to and so sometimes I have heard that
they have to really suck it up basically and deal
with a lot of pain, you know, And it's a
tough world, it really is.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I have one experience with it. I was asked to
open a WWE show in the ring once and it
involved me eventually getting knocked out in the ring with
a championship belt by someone who knew what they were doing.
They knew how to hit me properly with it. I
just didn't know the fall technique. And I had wrestlers
backstage telling me how to fall and what I was
(13:20):
supposed to do, and I did exactly what they said,
and I was sore for at least a month. There's
no That was my mid twenties. There's no way I
could do it now. And I could just imagine that
recovery process. You get to a point where you're just saying,
this is taking longer and longer to recover that. You
hear athletes say it all the time. Football players say,
(13:40):
you know, I'm not even I'm still sore and it's
Saturday and I've got a game on Sunday. So I
would imagine that probably would have also been something that
would make you think, well, let's try to do less
of that and more acting.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, I mean I would, well, definitely for me, because
my true passion was in storytelling and acting. The stunt
thing was just because I happened to be my forte
and being coming from the family I did was I
could do a lot of different martial arts styles and
systems because my father was so good about opening the
(14:19):
doors and the saying and preaching more the philosophy which
was jikundo. I don't know if you're familiar with this term,
but that is the term my godfather coined, and it's
really more of a philosophy about exploring. And you have
to remember the time period that they came from, with
in the nineteen sixties where people are like, oh, you're
a karate man, you only sick with karate, you only
(14:42):
study Japanese if you're you know, if you're a Filipino martialist, Well, no,
you just only do Filipino marti arts. So the idea
of crossing over and training in other arts and systems
at that time period was considered taboo. But my godfather,
along with some other martial arts of his contemporaries of
his time, that you know, we need to explore, and
especially in America when you're dealing with so many different cultures,
(15:06):
he just felt this was really important to explore. So
that's why he was into boxing and kickboxing and vencing
even And so my dad, after his my godfather's death,
was really good about trying to explore different styles and
sistems because he felt martial arts in particularly his school
(15:27):
was sort of like a university of martial arts, and
so I grew up around that, and that's why I
could kind of bounce into any style or system pretty easily,
and he gave me variety.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
My godfather could have gotten you a good deal on
homeowners and care insurance.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So that insurance sometimes some insurance kind of like you
do what for a living?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Oh, I don't know, we did not you.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Or Dragon con pregame show right after this. This is
where the story gets so great and I love like
the eventual payoff for this because you decided I'm gonna
(16:22):
make my own movie, and you kind of talked a
little bit about some of the things like leading up
to that when we first got started. But you sat down,
you write the sin say, you produce this little bit
of a family affair going on, but you make this
independent movie. And I know, like, like everybody has the
(16:42):
high hopes, man, this is it, this is gonna be
the thing, and it wasn't quite what you were wanting,
but it eventually paid off, right like a later, a
massive like it's like you put something out there and
you think, okay, and and just you know, you go,
this is where this is going to go, and then
(17:02):
it doesn't. And then it's got to be and I
don't want to put words it, but it's got to
be deflating. But then you get this thing on the
back end where you go, well, wait a minute, this
is why I made.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
This movie, right right, So let me back up here.
So when I did, when I wrote the sense and
directed it, really I was there were a couple of
people that inspired me to just try to be an
indie filmmaker because I could feel that I was aging
out with my body. My body wasn't healing as fast
as a stone, because it's kind of like being a
(17:34):
football player meets ballerina and at some point you kind
of had to retire, at least semi retire, and pick
very carefully what you can do physically. So I thought, well,
uncle Bruce, he decided to be an independent filmmaker basically
when he went to Hong Kong because he couldn't make
it at the time in America. Well, following his lead,
(17:58):
and then there were other acts that also I noted,
that were writing and directing their own material, and one
of them happened to be John Favreau. Very important name,
keep that in mind, and so I just started studying
people that were independent filmmakers. I did my best to
write what I thought was a movie that made sense
(18:20):
for me, that I felt should express who I am.
And when it came out, it was one of the
first digital indie excuse me, one of the first digital
films to go out there. But the problem was that
came out during the Great during the Great Recession and
during the crash, and for a lot of filmmakers, we
paid the price if we had a project out there,
(18:41):
so it was hard, you know, So my film I
knew was going out there, but I wasn't making any money,
just like a lot of filmmakers weren't, and it was painful,
and I just thought, well, you know, it's out there,
and at least I hope that it can make at
least a difference, because it is in my mind that
he has a humanitarian mes And well, I knew that.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
It's interesting that you say that because I think and
obviously this being early on in the digital release world,
and then I think, because this is about seven o eight, right,
and I think, I think, honestly, the message of the
movie would have hit more now than then. I think
maybe it was a little bit ahead of its time, right.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I get told that quite a bit, that it was
ahead of its time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I mean I started watching it and I start thinking, Okay,
there feels like there's a little karate kid influence to it.
Obviously there's more to the story than just that. And
then I see Keith David right at the beginning, and
I'm like, I'm in, I'm all in. And I know
Keith David not a large part in it, but a
significant part in it, but a huge fan of Keith David.
(19:48):
How did that come about. How did you get him involved?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Well, my manager Kerkkintman, who was also a producer on
the film as long was you know, my team. About
the producers, there was my husband Ron Blicky.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
They we all had sort of our own initial contact
to people in the business. So he was able to
work out, you know, contact with Keith and he came aboard.
He read the script, and it was the same thing
with time Mal who's been a lot of Disney projects.
And I was just very lucky that these people believed
(20:20):
in my film, and they believed in the message, and
they saw that this was not some kind of be
Hong Kong like like like almost like a I think
people were expecting more of a Cynthia Rothrock or don
Dragon Wilson type movie coming out of me. But that's
not me, that's not that's authentically not who I am,
you know. And I actually got some pushback from the
(20:45):
martial arts community because they're like, wait a minute, you're
doing a movie about you know that takes place during
the AIDS epidemic, about a gay teenager who is a
friend befriended by a female martial arts teacher, what you know?
And I there was some people that were not happy
that I made my movie. They really weren't. But then
I found this whole other crop of fans that were
(21:07):
coming and going, thank you, thank you for making this movie,
thank you for doing something that represents me. I had teachers,
I even had martial arts teachers that said, I have
gay students and they don't know what to do. But
I showed them movie and it gave them hope. And
so it was an extraordinary the path. I had the
support of the Matthew Shepherd Foundation. I had people reaching
(21:29):
out from Washington, DC who were connected to Congress and
they were working on the Matthew Shepherd Act, which was
basically known as the Hate Crime Bill Act. So the
timing in itself was in that sense was actually kind
of perfect. But from a career standpoint, it was really
(21:50):
difficult because I still couldn't get an agent, I still
couldn't get representation. So lo and behold, it's a miracle
that ten years down the road it would be Dave
Filoni that would discover me on Google.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Well, that's the beautiful part of this is in Star
Wars from the very beginning, obviously it's got this you know,
old war movie influence in it with the tie fighters
and things, but it is core. It's very much a
tribute in so many ways influenced by Samurai films. And
(22:29):
so when you've got people like you mentioned Jon Favreau
Dave Filoni, who were two guys who understand the George
Lucas vision. They get it. They've tried to do everything
they can to carry the torch and say we're going
to move forward. Felony of course, the Clone Wars and
Rebels and all those animated things, and then venturing into
actually doing live action and being able to bring some
(22:51):
of those characters that he created inspired by the vision
of Lucas to TV and eventually to film. There he
is going, can't we find somebody who kind of fits
this but also has a martial arts background who can act?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
And yeah, and that John Favrel, you know, and you
know that was John favreall initially that I get from
what I understand was John Favrel that really felt strongly
that we need to find somebody who's authentically a martial
artist but hopefully can act. And then Dave goes, Okay,
then let me try to go find it. So it
was really the both of them that are tied to
(23:28):
my fate beautiful and forever thankful. And it's so weird
because John Favreaul was always one of my heroes and Dave.
I knew who Dave was because of my children, particularly
my son who has autism. We would watch the Clone Wars,
we would watch Rebels. I went to take my kids
to see The Clone Wars when it came out in
(23:49):
the movie theaters. That's how much I was. I loved
Star Wars, so I was familiar with Dave already. And
it's just so weird how the ties of face worked
for me, you know? And uh or I should say
what my characters is the threads of faith. It really
is wild and I pinched myself all the time how
(24:13):
everything turned out for me.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I really do the way that they audition people for
these roles, you don't really even know what you're auditioning for.
Uh So, so you go in and you're, what, just
doing a read and you don't even really know. Did
you have some idea this may be Star Wars related
since it involved them.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well there, here's the thing. So the way it happened
for me, I got a call from my manager terror Kiteman,
who was again the producer of my indie film, and
we are and we're also dear friends. And by the way,
we are a major Star Wars fan. So we used
to always have this tradition every holiday or when it
was our birthday, so always by each other. Star Wars gets,
(24:53):
you know, socks too, brushes to paste. We didn't care,
you know. And so he called me. I believe it
was around October November, and he says, hey, you, I
just got a call and it's for Mandalorian and the
producers there knowing you. I'm like, I don't know anyone
(25:14):
connected to the Mandalorian whatsoever. And I actually thought he
was joking with me. He goes, I'm not joking, and
I go, come on, He goes, no, I think this
is real. I really do think this is real because
I've had people actually do faith auditions for me, and
that's a whole other story. And that's why you need
a manager to vet people to make sure it's real.
(25:36):
And he goes, it's real because they want you to
sign an NDA and I check that out. It's real
and you only have three days to get to auditions,
and it was I think I got the call, like
on a Thursday night or a Friday, and I had
to spend an in date and when I got the side, yeah,
you're correct. You would never know in a million years
(25:57):
that it was Star Wars. To me, it read more
as a period piece war type movie maybe, And I
did get a sense that I was a villain. And
the hard part was I had no one to practice
lines was but my son was autism because my my
husband was away, and I just thought, I have got
to just drill this. And it had been years, but
(26:20):
I thought I can tap in to my theater roots,
and I knew looking at the Star Wars universe, one
thing I sensed, if this was a villain, there was
a certain way they kind of kind of tap into
that almost mid Atlantic or a British accent, sort of
like they did in the old fifties movies. And I
went in, I auditioned. It was the one. I thought,
(26:41):
if I don't get this, and I assumed honestly that
I didn't wouldn't get it. But I thought, they're gonna
know I'm an actress. They're good. They're gonna know that
I'm not just a martial artist, but I am an actress.
And sure not. Three to four days later, I got
a call and they said you're in. You know they
want you. But I still didn't know what that meant.
(27:02):
I just thought it was going to be a one
liner and maybe they want me to do I hit
in the kick and that's it. I had no idea
it would explode into what it's become today. Now, I
had no idea whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
How close were you with your your initial read as
far as what you thought they wanted to what you
ended up actually doing on screen?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Oh my god, that's a great question. You're the first
one to ever ask that. Pretty darn clothes, Pretty darn clothes,
And again you nailed it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I mean, the character is, I mean perfect, your debut,
your debut in the show. It's one of those things
where you're like, you know, it's so strange because being
a fan of Ahsoka in general, and I've spent you know,
a lot of time chatting with Ashley Eckstein and her
husband and conventions and things, and so it was it
(27:59):
was an adjustment to begin with, because you go, Okay,
I understand they're going for a slightly different look overall
for what Ahsoka is going to be a little maybe
a little bigger, a little more formidable, I guess is what,
because they've they'd aged her up a bit from where
we'd last seen her, So they go, Rosario Dawson, You're like,
she sounds perfect. It was one of those casting dreams,
(28:21):
I think for the nerds behind the scenes, like that's
who we want, and then we finally see her and
you're like, oh my gosh, I'm nerding out. Here's here.
It is Ahsoka finally live action and oh who's that?
Who is Morgan Elsbeth? Who is this?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And the funny thing is everybody that night on the
on the Jedi episode is what you're talking about on
season two, that that particular episode not only was the
world finding out what you know about what Grogu's name was.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
I did not know that my character was called Morgan Elsip.
I was never told that. I just knew I was
the magistrate. Isn't that funny?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Not really surprising though, because everything's got to be super
hush hush, right.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Did you know everything was?
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Did they already have plans for you to come back
for this?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Well?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I guess the Ahsoka series maybe wasn't even official by
that point was it.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
No, I knew nothing about the Ahsoka show at all.
In fact, what I would later if my understanding is correctly,
I think they needed to know if people would truly
receive a live action of Soka by watching the Jedi
episode on the Mandalorian, and I think because of the reaction,
(29:41):
they're like, Okay, this can be a possibility. But I
didn't know that at the time, and I'm kind of
glad I didn't know that. I just wanted to be
in the present and saye focused. I wanted to be
there for Rosario, especially with our fight scene, and especially
because George Lucas came and visited the set and Dave
PILONEI was directing, and John was. I just thought, oh
(30:01):
my gosh. You know, there is a huge amount of
pressure when you're seeing these major forces in the industry,
and all you want to do is just be there
for them and to please and to make sure that
you're you're doing the best uh for this franchise that
you absolutely love.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
You know, one of those cases where you just put
your best thing out there and it paid off later
because then Ahsoka comes along and they're ready for you.
In a much more extended role. What was that experience
like coming from Mandalorian over to the Ahsoka series.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I well, the irony is, you get to remember when
the Mandalorian, particularly our episode especially came out, it was
during COVID, so it was really weird. And I'm living
in California, So the weird thing for me was to
be filming on this amazing set call the Volume, isolated
(31:00):
in my home for months, right with my kids, with
our family, and we're just counting the days till Mandalorian
season two comes on. But when that particular episode hit,
it was a life changer. And then it was months
later on that I would get the call, and it
was more when California was starting to open up, and
(31:22):
I just happened to be at Disneyland and I got Ironically,
it's so weird. I was at Disneyland and I got
the call for my manager like they're going to do
on a Soca show and they want you, And I
screamed and cried and I just couldn't believe it, you know.
And yeah, it's been very surreal for me.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I absolutely love it. What a what a great path
that you were on, and you had no idea you
were even on.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
The path right exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I mean you've put something out, you put some art
out and it connected with some people, which is what
you want art to do. But little did you know
how this would pay off in such a big way
for someone who was a huge fan of Star Wars.
I know you spent a lot of time working with
Ray Stevenson. If you could just talk a little bit
about him. What a loss that was?
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Yeah, that was. That was a painful loss for all
of us because we all bonded being on the set.
And again, we were filming during COVID, so we were
under some pretty strict regulations and some rules about safety,
and a lot of us were not able to see
our loved ones, and so we had each other and
(32:40):
we became this unit, this family ers. I love to
say Ohana because my part of my family's from Hawaii,
and I loved the Ohana spirit that was around all
of us, both cast and crew. And it was so
beautiful to just be able to have this immediate family.
(33:01):
And what was really nice is we got together to
see you know, we had a chance to see each
other at Star Wars celebration in London, and I'm so
happy that Ray could see the love of the fans
and could see what Ahsoka was becoming and how beautiful
and wonderful he looked. Even in the trailer, you know,
(33:23):
he hadn't seen the show, but you could see that
he was a presence, and I'm just so glad that
he had that because when we found out that we
had lost him, it was so painful, especially for Yvonne
and I because we had a lot of time on
the set with Ray and it was it was terrible.
It was I mean, I can't explain it, but it
(33:46):
just was such a major loss. But we are all
still very connected to Ray's family and his children and
his community and a Visa Spain. There is now a
film festival slash music festival called Rolla a Ray of
Light Awards in a Visa, Spain, and it is his
(34:10):
wife Betta that is at the helm along with her
other beautiful partners that have are continuing this beautiful vision
that Ray wanted. So yeah, Ray, we miss him, and
he was definitely what I call poetry in motion.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Or dragon con pregame show. Right after this, we get
to the end of the Ahsoka series and we get
to those final scenes and there I am watching and
(34:50):
then your character Morgan Elizabeth gets the message from Throng
that you're going to have to stay behind for the Empire.
I thought, right, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no no, because sometimes there's just villains and stories and
shows and movies and you just you like them so
(35:12):
much you don't want them to go anywhere. And it
seemed very apparent where things were heading. But we're talking
about Night Sisters. It's not like we are. It's not
like they're always gone, You're.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
True, true, I mean yeah, I mean I don't know,
but I mean they really blasted where she was. That's
the one thing I noticed, like, Wow, they really blasted
that whole area. Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
So well, yeah, Darth mall got cut in half. And
they're from the same planet, so you know, anything's possible, right.
Darth Maul was like a cockroach. They couldn't get rid
of him. He just kept coming back, and he was
more interesting every time. So I'm just yeah, and there's
a chance.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Right. Well, you know, I guess Star Wars is about
some form of hope, So does that apply to a
nice I don't know, But you know what one thing
I was happy about is we talked, and I wanted
very much to be able to at least if I
was going to die, I wanted to die by my
(36:21):
own sword. But they did a combination thing. I died
by my own sword and a lightsaber. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
And it was an important sword in the whole story
to go with that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
So, yeah, the town's in blade, right.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yeah, I know that one of your in hearing your
story and you talk about there's a period of time
where there weren't roles for you. They weren't looking for
actresses who looked like you necessarily, And I'm assuming and
I've read that one of the people that you respect
a lot, and a lot of us respect her. I
also host a space podcast that I do, and I've
(36:58):
interviewed a number of astronauts. I've not interviewed this particular
astronaut yet. That would be fantastic, But made Jemison means
a lot to you, doesn't she?
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Well yeah, I mean she her quote, Yeah, so you
saw that, huh.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yes, But her her quote, like, that's something that you've
carried over into into your life, and I would imagine
it applies certainly to that path that you went on.
Of you know, the roles aren't there. Let's go find
my own path, Let's find what I can do, and
then eventually that leading to you know, this other thing
that ended up being exactly maybe what you wanted, even
(37:34):
if you didn't dare to wish it yet.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Yeah, yeah, and you know, you just I do believe
that when you put in the work and the time
and you can manifest something for you. And I say
when I used the word manifest, I don't mean that
to sound woo woo by any means, but I'm really
talking about when you really focus in. You know, the
human mind is capable of doing great things, and it
(38:00):
may not look exactly what you hoped for or liked
or wanted, but you can get pretty darn close. And
so I am very happy that I took the risk,
but it was a calculated risk, and by the way
things came out, I just feel so grateful because it's
(38:20):
not just what happened to me, but it's also the
journey of the people I meet. Like let's take for instance,
the fact that I get to do comic cons and
meet the fans and they are incredible and I love it.
I feel like it's the equivalent of being a musician
who gets to connect with their art with the fans
(38:41):
who appreciate their music. What's the same thing when you're
at comic Con. It's kind of like being a musician
and you get to meet the fans who really love
the work you've done, the writing, you participated in, the
sandbox that you got to play in creatively. It's really
just a privilege and an honor.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I got to spend time with Ashley's husband, David ex Stein, who,
of course you know, World Series MVP for the Cargo. Yeah,
and we were just talking about and while Ashley is
interacting with her fans, he and I are just kind
of standing back and we're just kind of taking some
of that in and talking and He's just like, the
fandom here is the same sort of fantom you get
(39:22):
in sports. It's just for a different thing. You're just
wearing a different uniform or costume or those kinds of things.
So you do the conventions, you're you're coming to Dragon Con.
There's a nice there's a few of you guys with
some Star Wars connections this time around, and I know
that the fans will be excited for that. Obviously, Star Wars.
(39:44):
Dragon Con is coming up very fast, so I guess
as we wind things down, any message you'd like to
give to the fans that are thinking about coming up
to see you at a dragon Con.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Oh my gosh, just come and say hi, well, talk
Star Wars. Anything you like, and I'll probably do my
own survey of asking you what was your favorite show,
What's what you loved, what inspired you? I mean, those
are the questions I love asking a fan, you know,
And I'm just I'm just looking forward to it and
I can't wait to see those amazing costumes.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Diana Lee and Asanto, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Thank you very much. Wes, You're wonderful.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
And that'll do it for this year's dragon Con pregame show.
Thanks to our guests Diana Lee and Asanto, Sam Whitword,
Katie Sacoff, and Charles McFall. Thanks also to doctor Sean Cruisin,
my co host on the Mate of Stars podcast. You
can check that out wherever you listen to your podcasts.
If you want to learn more about Nami Georgia, visit
(40:45):
Nami dot org. To learn more about Columbus State University's
Coca Cola Space Science Center, visit cc SSC dot org
stands for Coca Cola Space Science Center CCSSC dot org.
To learn more about dragon Con and to purchase those memberships,
you can go to DragonCon dot org. Thanks to Sam Tillman,
(41:09):
Greg Dan, the whole media relations team at dragon Con,
and thank you for listening. Hope to see you at dragoncn.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
This has been the dragon Con pregame show, powered by
Columbus State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center. Learn more
at ccs SC dot org. For an updated guest list,
visit DragonCon dot org. Transision now
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