“Zero Day” star Eden Lee is balancing saving lives as a real-life emergency room nurse along with her rising profession in Hollywood.
The 34-year-old actress, who works within the ER at Atrium Well being Union in Monroe, North Carolina, landed her first main function within the new Netflix political thriller restricted collection starring Robert De Niro.
Throughout an interview with Fox Information Digital, Lee defined why she determined to pursue appearing whereas persevering with to serve her neighborhood as an emergency medical skilled.
“Acting is something I’ve always wanted to do ever since I was younger,” she stated. “It wasn’t something that was particularly encouraged. It was seen as more of a hobby.”
“And so when I started settling into my career a couple years into working in the ER, I was very happy,” she continued. “I discovered my now-husband. I used to be feeling very fulfilled in my profession, but subsequently I felt like… one thing was lacking.
“And so I started looking around and realized I now have the luxury of being a grown-up and making my own choices because I make my own money and let’s see what acting classes do for me.”
Lee, who graduated from the College of North Carolina at Charlotte with a bachelor’s diploma in nursing, instructed Fox Information Digital that she initially deliberate to attend medical faculty.
Nonetheless, she determined that she needed to “get to the bedside quicker,” so she declared nursing as her main.
The New York native launched her appearing profession in 2017.
She appeared in a string of quick movies earlier than making her streaming debut within the 2021 Fox Nation vacation film “Christmas in the Pines.”
Over the previous few years, Lee racked up appearing credit with visitor appearances on TV reveals like “The Resident,” “Dynasty,” “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” “Twisted Metal,” “First Wives Club,” “Found” and “Parish.”
Lee additionally took on roles within the 2022 motion movie “County Line: No Fear” and the 2023 coming-of-age film “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” primarily based on Judy Blume’s 1970 novel of the identical title.
Whereas talking with Fox Information Digital, Lee shared how she juggles her appearing gigs with shifts within the ER.
“Luckily, I’ve been an ER nurse for 12 years now, so I have a loyalty to my department, and my department has a loyalty for me, and so I’m offered a lot of flexibility and freedom to pursue my career,” she stated.
Lee lately instructed the Charlotte Observer that as a PRN nurse, she works on an “as-needed” foundation, which has enabled her to extra simply divide her time between her two professions.
She defined to Fox Information Digital that managing her busy schedule is a “matter of balancing it from week to week.”
“I pick my schedule at work in a way that suits me and suits my auditioning schedule, and if there’s ever times where I need to take an extended leave of absence, my department is very accommodating of that,” Lee stated.
Although Lee has now established herself as a working actress, she instructed Fox Information Digital that she doesn’t foresee hanging up her scrubs within the close to future.
“I’ve been working professionally for a few years and, so luckily and thankfully, I have the luxury of honestly letting my nursing job go,” she stated. “And my husband has from time to time been like, ‘You should just quit. Why are you still going?’”
“And I worked really hard for this thing too,” Lee continued. “So emergency nursing feels very much a part of me as acting does.”
Lee stated she enjoys every of her vocations equally, including, “Obviously, there’s one I’m pursuing with a little bit more fervor, but I don’t see myself letting go of nursing anytime soon.”
The actress went on to say that she sees parallels between her two occupations, noting that they each require “empathy.”
“I tell people all the time on both sides, whether it’s acting or in nursing, that I find that they inform each other very well,” she stated. “Obviously, when I’m working as a nurse and working at the bedside, empathy and compassion is a big part of doing what I do.”
“And subsequently, I feel like working as an actor is a constant practice of empathy as well,” Lee continued. “And on my bad days, you know, I got to be a real good actor at work, too.”
Lee recalled that there have been a “couple of times” when she has had to make use of her ER nursing abilities whereas engaged on units.
“There was a show that I got hired on to play a nurse and I realized very quickly when I got there that they were also in need of a little bit of medical expertise when it came down to handling some of the equipment,” she stated.
Moreover, Lee instructed Fox Information Digital that she stepped in to assist an injured actor in the course of the filming of certainly one of her tasks.
“There’s been an instance on a smaller scale working on a short film project with a friend of mine,” she stated. “We had an actor get hurt when he was on set, and between the time it took for our onset medic to get there and between him getting injured, I was able to lend a hand in a situation that felt very crisis-like for a lot of people there.”
Lee instructed Fox Information Digital that the “toughest part” of working as an ER nurse is “realizing over and over again that we live in a world that is less than ideal.”
“I feel very fortunate to be very well tied into my community, but at the same time, it is a privilege, but it’s also really hard to see all the things that people who don’t work in healthcare are not privy to,” she stated.
“And so I feel like my biggest struggle is realizing that the state of our country is the way that it is and, hopefully, what I do and how I participate in it is making it better,” Lee added.
“Zero Day,” which was launched on Feb. 20, follows a “former US President, George Mullen (De Niro}, who is called out of retirement to investigate a devastating cyberattack,” which turns into often called “Zero Day,” based on a plot synopsis for the present.
“As he delves into the event, he uncovers a web of lies, conspiracies, and personal betrayals that threaten to unravel the nation.”
Together with Lee and De Niro, the six-episode miniseries options an ensemble forged that features Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Invoice Camp, Dan Stevens, Matthew Modine and McKinley Belcher III.
“Zero Day” marks De Niro’s first main function in a TV collection.
The 2-time Academy Award winner additionally government produced the present together with creators Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael Schmidt in addition to director Lesli Linka Glatter and Miramax CEO Jonathan Glickman.
In a recurring function, Lee portrays Particular Agent Angela Kim, who heads the FBI Nationwide Cyber Investigative Joint Process Power.
Kim joins the Zero Day Fee, which is led by Mullen, as they work to uncover the culprits and motives behind the lethal cyberattack.
Throughout her interview with Fox Information Digital, Lee mirrored on her expertise working with De Niro.
“I couldn’t in my wildest dreams ever imagine that I would be working with Robert De Niro,” she stated.
She continued, “I think every actor has this bucket list that in our wildest dream we would get to do, like go to the Oscars and work with Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep and so on. This wasn’t even on my bingo card.”
“And working with him was such an eye-opening experience,” Lee added. “I think for me, my biggest takeaway in working with him is realizing that working really hard and being a kind person are really the key factors to making sure that you have a long and successful career.”
Lee additionally shared what stunned her most about working with the “Taxi Driver” star.
“I think the thing that we as aspiring actors and looking up to people like Robert De Niro, we make some assumption that these people are infallible, and they’re perfect, and they must show up camera-ready every single day,” she stated.
“On our early mornings, if there were days when he would trip up a couple of lines or things like that, it was just really eye-opening, right? It’s a consistent practice of showing up and working really hard,” Lee added. “But he comes in ready every single day, which is very impressive.”
Lee famous that she didn’t ask for any recommendation or “sage wisdom” from the veteran actor.
“He’s generally, I believe, a very introverted person. And so between takes and stuff, he keeps to himself,” she stated. “I felt like watching him work was probably the best way to learn what I should be doing.”
Following “Zero Day,” Lee is continuous to line up new appearing tasks.
The actress instructed Fox Information Digital that she lately wrapped filming on the unbiased movie “Bedford Park,” the primary directorial outing for author and editor Stephanie Ahn.
Lee stated she is enjoying a small supporting function within the film, which she described as “more of a coming-of-age romantic drama” that’s “based on two Korean-American leads.”
As a Korean-American herself, Lee shared that it was “super important for me to make it into that project.”
Lee additionally shared that she might be touring to Atlanta to movie a visitor look within the long-running Canadian TV collection “Murdoch Mysteries.”
“And so hopefully the train just keeps chugging along,” she stated.
“Zero Day” is streaming on Netflix now.
