Hey! My name is Esther Lee, and I'm a Korean-American actor born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. Since I was a kid, I've felt a deep connection to and comfort in the arts. If you took a look through my family's home videos, you could find 3-year-old me standing on a pink, plastic Ikea children's chair in a cute denim dress, singing Korean nursery rhymes and the Shapes song for my family, or copying Snow White in my Snow White dress as I watched her run away from the huntsman.

From learning instruments like the cello to drawing and painting to putting on little shows for my family, I wanted to indulge in the arts whenever I could get the chance, but there was one I felt was always out of reach to pursue seriously: acting. I've always had an immense admiration for actors; my curiosity for theatre began when my fifth-grade class took a field trip to the nearby junior high's production of Grease and I saw an Asian student playing Rizzo. Her mic went out during one of the numbers, but she kept going and had me in awe. I wished to be able to do what she and the other students did, but I was so overcome with stage fright that I decided to stick to what I'd been used to by playing the cello in the pit orchestra. But as I watched from my high school's pit, my curiosity pulled me to get out of my comfort zone and just try. As I started to share my love for storytelling little by little, this dream started to feel within reach, and I was getting over my stage fright little by little. 

I will be graduating with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Point Park University's Conservatory of Performing Arts in the spring of 2024, where I learned to be comfortable with just trying and developing a strong sense of play. Yippee! My conservatory credits include Kentucky, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Men On Boats, and Little Children Dream of God. 

I am a strong believer in the power of storytelling to create unique connections, whether it's within an individual or a multitude. Art is an essential aspect of society, and feeling and connection are essential aspects of the human experience. As an artist, especially an artist of color, I feel a responsibility to inspire hope, empathy, and love while reminding people of the joys and hardships of the human experience through storytelling. I feel most connected to art that is created with care and depth while being multifaceted in the exploration of human stories. I am passionate about collaborating with other artists to create art that starts conversations and makes the collective think and reflect on themselves, the world we live in, and the world we can create.