At any given moment, musician, makeup artist, singer, model, filmmaker, comedian, actress, fashion designer, speaker and author Hana Mae Lee can be just about anywhere anytime driven by a deep reservoir of creative energy and the positive vibes of a giving universe.
In November, she found herself in Kansas City as lead actress, Rebecca, in the locally shot comedy crime film “Boris is Dead.”
“There were so many phenomenal actors on the film,” Lee says. “Every day, when I’d watch them, I would get more inspired to be better. They were just bringing it every time. And the Kansas City crew were really friendly, really hard-working, and just nice.”
Lee began her modeling and film career at age 16, working on a string of commercials for Jeep, Honda and Verizon Wireless, and music videos for the Grammy-nominated “Mr. Brightside.” She made her TV debut in an episode of the Emmy-award winning series “Mike and Molly” in 2011, and appeared in a handful of other TV series from 2011 to 2019.
Her film credits include one of the highest grossing musical-franchises of all time, “Pitch Perfect” in 2012 (followed by two sequels); and a starring role in the horror-comedy, “The Babysitter” and its sequel, “The Babysitter: Killer Queen.”
Sasha Yelaun, the producer of “Boris is Dead,” knew about Hana from her work on “Pitch Perfect.” He met her in 2015 when she was doing a table read for him on a film about the first US female Navy pilots in the 1940s. “She nailed it. She was really down to earth,” Yelaun says. Although the film was never made, Yelaun was happy to suggest her to “Boris is Dead” Director James Cullen Bressack, who ultimately cast Hana as Dane Cook’s love interest.
Her selection for the role of Rebecca was a combination of things, he says. “We were thinking of Asian actresses specifically. That’s what my investors were looking for. So it was that and a combination of other things that brought her to my attention.”
Lee worked on “Boris is Dead” in Kansas City for about three weeks in November, 2024, she says, and had a chance to take in some of the amenities of the city. “I was on set almost all the time, but I found The Green Lady Lounge (a downtown live jazz venue) which is really cool. It’s one of my favorite places. That place is so rad. It was so fun and so beautiful inside.”
She didn’t get a lot of time to hang out in the city—had a dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse near the airport—and had heard about some of the city’s museums that she wanted to check out. But the clock was ticking. “I didn’t really get to explore much,” she says. “I would definitely come back and explore a lot more, because I know there’s so much here.”
Lee recently wrapped another movie, the horror film “Swipe” shot in New Jersey. “I’ve always loved horror films, so I’m trying to lean into that a little bit more. I’m more into a psychological thriller or a slasher films,” she says. “I’ve got a great horror scream, both as a killer and as a victim. I would love to do it right now but my dog will freak out.”
