DAWNA LEE HEISING

Although her uncle was the great director of photography Tak Fujimoto who has a Japanese decent and now is retired and whose credits include (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, GLADIATOR, PHILADELPHIA, THE SIXTH SENSE), Dawna Lee Heising has gotten into the entertainment business on her own. She was studying a chemistry major at the University of California, Berkeley where she was discovered by agent after she won several beauty pageants titles including that of Miss Hawaii. Her onscreen debut which was in Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER where she played a dancer. (In BLADE RUNNER, Dawna appeared on the screen for five second but she was on set for three weeks where she attended the shooting of Daryl Hannah’s backflip that was realized by a stunt double). It was then followed by TV appearances on the hit TV shows of the 1980s like FANTASY ISLAND, MAGNUM P.I. ”I stopped acting and modelling from 1996 until 2005 because education is very important in our family”, explained Dawana to www.MeetingVenus.com. ”I got an MBA from Pepperdine University then I went to work in technology companies where I became a product manager until I became a vice president of sales and marketing”.

However, Dawna missed showbiz a lot and so she went to work as a host of MOREHORROR IN HOLLYWOOD where she interviewed horror film stars through her manager who was handling many clients appearing in genre films. EYE ON ENTERTAINMENT followed in 2005 where Dawna interviewed successful entertainment visionaries across the indie industry. ”When I came back to acting, everything was different,” says Dawna. ”anybody could make a film. My first comeback film was directed by a school- teacher. There were green croma rooms, makeup trailers where I was treated like royalty. I also took additional acting classes at the South Coast Repertory, the theatre company located in Costa Mesa. And so, I started studying under the great Alan Arkin and his son Matthew.”

During the last two decades, Dawna Lee Heising has starred in over 60 feature films, acting alongside popular actors such as Tom Sizemore, Michael Madsen, Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts, Tommy Wiseau, Rebecca Knight, Nicolas Turturro, Lorenzo Lamas, Olivia Hussey, Coolio, Aki Aleong, Mel Novak and many others. She won Best Shakespearean Actress for DARK CLASSICS at the 2019 LANFA Film Festival; Best Actress for her role as Barbie in Dustin Ferguson’s NEMESIS 5: THE NEW MODEL at the 2018 LANFA Film Festival; ”Actress of the Year” at the 2018 USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame Awards, and Best Supporting Actress for Gregory Blair’s GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE at the 2018 Lucky Strike Film Festival. Additionally, she was named Best Host for EYE ON ENTERTAINMENT ON AMAZON PRIME at the 2017 WIND International Film Festival, where EYE ON ENTERTAINMENT was also awarded Best Television Show. She also won Best Actress for Jared Masters’ TEACHER’S DAY at the 2014 Shockfest Film Festival, and a 2013 EOTM Award for Outstanding Television Talk Show Host for EYE ON ENTERTAINMENT. She has also been honored with seven Best Ensemble Acting awards for Blair’s GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE.

Dawna was trained in Tang Soo Do martial arts, kickboxing, ballet and pole dancing. She was an accomplished beauty queen, former Miss Los Angeles Chinatown, Ms. World, Ms. Universe, Miss San Francisco Universe, Miss Orange County Universe, Miss California Hemisphere and Mrs. California United States, among many other titles.

Dawna recently portrayed the inspiring role of Vivica Stevens (aka RoboWoman) in award-winning filmmaker Dustin Ferguson’s ROBOWOMAN. Dawna also played the powerful role of Esmeralda, Lucifer’s wife, in William Lee’s BLACK MAMBA and crazy, but hilarious, Melanie in Gregory Blair’s multi award-winning GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE. She recently played Connie in Richard Rossi’s faith-based film CANAAN LAND, Medusa in Albert Pyun’s CYBORG: RISE OF THE FLESH EATERS, Winney Swinney in Adam Steigert’s THE HORRIFIC EVIL MONSTERS, and Deana the Psychic in Ron Becks’ and Tina Le’s LAS VEGAS VIETNAM, starring Eric Roberts, Branscombe Richmond, Lorenzo Lamas and Nicholas Turturro.

She was excited to be portraying the character of Skye in John Reign’s war film FINDING PURPOSE from Polestar Studios. There are epic war scenes in this film, and Reign expanded her role as his ex-girlfriend as the shoot went on. FINDING PURPOSE ended up being Dawna’s first love story! She will be reprising her role of Skye in the upcoming bigger budget sequel from Polestar Studios. Dawna also performed the challenging Lady Macbeth Scene 5, Act I monologue in Brian Barsuglia’s documentary A BARD FOR THE AGES: SHAKESPEARE’S TIMELESS EFFECT.