Danielle Lyn is an artist, actor, model, writer, entrepreneur, and activist serving as a global advocate for adoption and orphan care.
Her advocacies include environmental conservation, diversity and inclusion in film, animal rescue, and protecting the rights and equalities for women and the LGBTQ+ community.
She is the author of Sugar Water (a collection of poetry), contributing editorial writer for magazines, and scriptwriter. She is co-creator of The Authentissimo Collection, a sustainable fashion brand and vintage store.
What is the story behind you getting into acting and how did you land the role of Creepshow?
Well, truth told is that I fell into it. I grew up performing and competing in figure skating and in my teens I fell into modeling. Then I moved to NYC when I was 20, and my agents started submitting me for acting jobs. I started bouncing between NY and L.A. for work.
Fast forward to landing my gig on Creepshow, I was back living in NY for pilot season and my agent sent the audition over, and I remember getting that read for Celia, taking a walk through Central Park and thinking, “Wow, I love this character so much! She’s so strong, and I really want to play her… but don’t go getting your hopes up,” because the industry has taught me to not get attached or have expectations.
So one of my best friends hopped on the phone to read with me remotely, and we taped the audition with one take. I sent it off and tried to forget about it. A week later my agent reached out telling me that I’d booked it! I definitely cried happy tears over that.
Were you and are you now a horror fan? If so, can you tell us about some of your favorite horror stories?
Keeping it real, I jump and scare so easily in real life, that prior to landing the show, I’d not been keen to the world of horror. I saw the IT reboot with my best friend Tristin a few years back, and hid in my seat the entire movie… so I really tried to keep my eyes open to the genre as a whole rather than be scared or intimated by being part of it (which is ironic as you’ll see, my character Celia definitely does her share of ‘eyes wide open’).
The genre’s had such a comeback and popularization of reboots and the horror anthology as a style, that when the series was announced I did my due diligence to prepare and researched the films. But I knew once I read my script what kind of world I was stepping into and ultimately decided to go into filming focused on the story I’d be living rather than do too much compared to what had been told so successfully before in the films, aka I didn’t scare myself before going to work.
You play Celia in Episode 4’s second feature story titled ‘Lydia Layn’s Better Half’. After reading the script, how did you prepare to display the accounts of your character?
Celia’s strong. She’s a fighter. She’s playing in a high stakes corporate world and she didn’t get there by playing nice. Thankfully, I’ve played several few strong corporate characters in my time. Playing that opposite of Tricia Helfer was honestly the most fun. She owned playing that ultimate high powered business woman Lydia Layne. So that was great to play off of.
And in real life, Tricia’s one of my dear friends so its fun to look back and see that our work together really played well on screen. Better half til the end, Celia definitely played well to Lydia, and I think that type of relationship and dynamic is really important on-screen and I’m proud to have been part of it.
When and why did you become an activist for adoption, orphan care, environmental conservation, diversity & inclusion in film, animal rescue, protecting the rights and equalities for women, and the LGBTQ community?
I’ve been given so many opportunities in this life that I don’t take for granted, and I want to lend my voice and give back to the issues and communities that helped me and grown me as a person.
What are some upcoming projects we can accept from you?
I’m keeping busy in quarantine writing! More poetry, drafting a feature film script right now, and brainstorming a children’s book series with a friend. Working with my business partner growing our sustainable fashion line and vintage store, Authentissimo. I hope a lot of projects will come of this time, and hopefully when our industry gets back to it there’ll be more acting work to report.
Danielle Lyn is represented by Authentic Talent & Literary Management. She recently, filmed a 2020 Super Bowl commercial directed by Michael Bay, guest-starred as a supporting role in the recent Netflix feature Nappily Ever After, An Actor Prepares, The Divergent Series, Fist Fight, and OWN series Queen Sugar.
