Lana Young

Lana comes from the beautiful island of Bermuda where her love for acting began. As a little girl sitting in the movie theater watching ORCA, she thought, I want to be up on that screen. But making a living as an actor in a small Island like Bermuda is not an option. So, she got caught up in the corporate world and found herself navigating the challenges of being a 20 something woman working on a trading desk at an investment company full of men. She sought out sanity and solace in the local theatre world and her love for acting bloomed. At 28 the universe intervened and decided it was time to change course and she found herself in Boston. There she was cast in her first film, a one woman show and an adaptation of Checkov's "The Lady With The Pet Dog" at the Leland Center all while still working in the corporate world. But these life changing acting opportunities set her on the path of acting as a career. After a life changing event, she decided that she had the gift of a fresh, new start and decided that this was the time to pursue acting for real. At 33 she moved to London where she received her Masters in Acting at the Arts Educational School of London. Some of her performances while there include Phyllis in Bernard Shaw's "The Philanderer", Lady 'you know who' in that Scottish Play by Shakespeare, Lona Hessel in an adaptation of Iben's "Pillars of The Community" and "The Graduate" at The New Vic Theatre with Charity Wakefield. She then moved to Los Angeles where she fell into the arms of the Classical Theatre Lab and spread her wings. It was a difficult time in her fledgling career. It was early 2000s and casting wasn't very representative of what the world actually looked like and as a mixed race actress in her 30s, auditions were very few and far between. In her 5 years there, she managed to book her first TV gig on Zoey 101, her first National commercial (Cricket Wireless with Jessica Sanchez) and an exciting supporting role in the independent film "Beginners" with Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor. But it wasn't enough to keep her fire alive and it was time to take a break and regroup. She moved to Charlottesville VA and opened an acting school for kids and adults called the Hollywood Theatre Lab (teaching life skills through acting). It was an exciting time. Charlottesville welcomed her with open arms and the school grew rapidly with so much support. She was able to keep the machine well oiled by working on indie films shot there. She learned some new skills too after producing, directing and acting in a short film called Old Soul which made it into a few film festivals. Charlottesville was the gift that kept giving as she won the Best Actor award at The Virginia Film Festival Adrenaline project and even started a talk show called "What's Going On, Cville" in partnership with Lighthouse Studio where they offered production internships to kids who learned about producing TV while working on the show with mentors. In short, Charlotteville was a blessing. It was the soul food she needed for the next leg of the journey which came in 2014. This is when she met Susan Tolar Walters of STW Talent who signed her in 2014 and started the ball rolling very quickly. Almost immediately she booked a recurring role on the Vampire Diaries in season 5 as Pam Douglas, followed by a co-star role on Devious Maids and then as Gloria in the Jake Gyllenhaal feature film, Southpaw. It was like the tides had turned and the industry was now more inclusive and representative of how the world actually looks...racially diverse and women of all ages. Working with Antoine Fuqua in Southpaw was a game changer for Lana. He told her several times during the shoot that she should be in New York, that she would do well in New York. So when the film wrapped in August 2014, she rented her house in Charlottesville and moved to New York City in September 2014 with her cats Lennon and Monkey who do tricks. She will always be grateful to Charlottesville for her nurturing time there and to Antoine for his sage advice. (2018 - 2019) Lana is recurring on The Resident on FOX as Dr. Mary Osder and as Inez Trujillo on Ambitions on OWN. To Be Continued....