Judy Jean Kwon

Biography

Judy Jean Kwon grew up in a Korean-American video store where she fell in love with the arts of film-making and story-telling. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is a daughter of Korean immigrants. She split her time between Korea and America as a child and not feeling like she belonged anywhere, "one foot in the east and one foot in the west", she turned to music and other arts. She started acting when she was seventeen. After five years of acting training, she went on to a successful commercial career, breaking the mould for East Asian American actors by taking on non-stereotypical roles. One of her first jobs was with Tarsem in the famous "Philip's flat TV" commercial where she proudly beat out over three hundred white actors and landed the lead. She broke doors for non-white actors and competed against non-East Asian actresses. She recalls that there weren't enough parts for East Asians and she did not want to take their work. Unusual and uniquely beautiful, she went on to model for Herb Ritts, Steven Meisel, and acted in over one hundred commercials. She played the lead in one of the first digital feature films to screen at Sundance Film Festival. Loving the crafts of film-making and story-telling, she also put on many hats, moonlighting in directing, casting, editing, writing, and photography. She created her own scripted comedy series, "MILFriend" which was released on Elizabeth Banks' platform for funny women, and an interview series on mental healing, "Heal X Create" where she interviews artists and healers on the subjects of stress, anxiety, and P.T.S.D. Judy does stand-up comedy, vlogs about her life, and is in development for several scripted projects. Kwon participated in the A.B.C.'s director fellowship, studied cinema at L.A.C.C., photography at Santa Monica College, and writing at U.C.L.A. Kwon's mission is to give voice to the voiceless and tell stories of the underdogs that are ignored. She is passionate about women's rights and immigrant stories.