Hey there! I’m Dayna (she/her)…
Headshot by: Deborah Lopez
I am a NYC based actor, singer, dancer, creator, and I’ve dedicated the past 16 years of my life to acting, theatre performance, and training.
I earned my BFA in Musical Theatre from Western Michigan University and my MFA in Acting from FSU/Asolo Conservatory.
Recently, I was seen as Jess in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s production of, GRAND HORIZONS, where I am so grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such an incredibly brilliant team.
Embodied acting and focused storytelling are my greatest passions and I have a “lump of faith” that our stories are the medicine that will heal our world.
Video by: Kyle Sorice
Some of my original watercolor creations!
💧🎨
Some of my original watercolor creations! 💧🎨
While preeminently passionate about acting, I am also ardent about reading everything from plays, to historical nonfiction, to personal growth books, to beach reads. I also enjoy writing, playing guitar, water color painting, cooking, and doing yoga in my tiny kitchen. I’ve recently started learning and training in different aerial fitness styles of pole, Lyra hoop, and hammock.
I grew up in Spring Grove, Illinois where corn fields are king. Where Friday nights are for football, and where the native Potawatomi tribe named the shallow, calm river that runs through the middle of it, “Nippersink”, translating to, place of small waters.
Learning the rules of the world in small, shallow waters gave me an extra dose of hunger for the truths that bigger, deeper waters knew.
It was in 4th grade that I was bitten by the bug.
We all gathered, what seemed to me like the entire community, right there in City Hall. Bare legs sticking to metal folding chairs on a humid July afternoon, ready to witness Peter Pan, Jr. Sitting in the audience next to Mom, mini bag of O-Ke-Doke gripped tightly in one hand, cheese dust covering the other, watching the kids line up at the edge of the stage to scream “I WON’T GROW UP!”.
I was liberated and recruited.
I, for the first time, dipped my toe in bigger water, and in it discovered one of my core truths:
I had to scream things that I needed the world to hear, too.
Who knew you could do it on a stage?!
Since then, my journey as an artist, whether I’ve been conscious of it or not, has been a quest in unlocking my authentic voice and finding the courage to share my visceral creative passion.
Thank you so much for taking time to read this and getting to know a little bit about me. 😊
Much love,
Dayna