MEET LEE DELONG
Lee Delong is an American/French actress, director, clown teacher and writer.
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After practicing theatre all through her youth, Lee attended West Virginia University School of Theatre for four years, followed by two years at Jacques Lecoq’s International Theatre School in Paris, plus the Movement Laboratory (LEM) with Lecoq. She also attended Meetings at Bouffes du Nord with Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière, and continued in depth clown research with the late great Alain Gautré.
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Lee has been playing Le Banquet over the past two years, notably at the prestigious Théâtre de Paris and the Théâtre du Rond-Point. Le Banquet is written and directed by Mathilda May and was awarded two Molières in 2019, for directing and for female revelation, and was nominated for best performance. The show is an ensemble of ten actors, and is an ingenious blend of dance, movement, and clown character to the music of Dolly Parton.
On screen, Lee was most recently seen in Savage State (l’Etat Sauvage) by David Perrault, where she delighted in singing Les Plaisirs d’Amour. She plays a principle role in Nina Violic’s, Family Dust, soon to be released. Notable also was her portrayal of Miranda Jones in the successful television series Call Your Agent (Dix Pour Cent) by Cedric Klapisch, and Mrs. Kermin in Luc Besson’s Arthur and the Minimoys, opposite Mia Farrow.
Lee also voices animation films and series: the character of Zero in INK, the Invisible Network of Kids; Sheriff Pearl in Paprika; and no less than eleven voices in Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves. Lee has just participated in Gutsy, produced by Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton and her daughter Chelsea took a class with Lee.
Lee has worked extensively with the company Triko Cirkus Teatar, Zagreb, for more than a decade. With Triko, she has written and directed seven clown performances. She has given countless workshops and master classes for Triko, not only in clown, but also in buffoon and object manipulation. With her creation of the performance, Nightingale, Triko Cirkus Teatar won the Best Independent Theatre Company of Croatia (2012). A coproduction between Triko and Kazaliste Grupa (2019) gave birth to Mistero Buffo by Dario Fo, directed by Lee. It tours still today.
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For Edinburgh Festival 2019, Lee directed Absolutely Reliable! Cowritten with Ralf Wetzel as his one-man show, this performance is based on their extensive work in clown and is played with a half mask and was featured in the Financial Times. Lee also gives workshops and master classes organized by Ralf in Brussels on a regular basis.
Lee has given clown workshops and master classes from Peru to Qatar to war time Sarajevo since 1994. She has given innumerable workshops for professional actors, for acting students, for writing students, animation students, theatre companies, and doctor clowns. Lee was acting coach on Jasmila Zbanic’s movie, On the Path and was Assistant Director/Choreographer/Lyricist on Jasmila’s film, Love Island. She also played the role of Cruella.
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Some of the institutions for whom Lee has taught are: Doha Film Institute; the Croatian National Theatre (HNK); les Gobelins, l’école de l’image, Paris; the University of Viborg Animation School, Denmark; the National Academy of Theatre, Rijeka, Croatia; the National Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sarajevo…to name a few.