AllMovie

A self-professed bohemian with a myriad of interests outside of the mainstream, actress Daniela Sea grew up in Malibu, CA. Raised by hippie parents who made their living as artists-cum-surfers, Sea herself took to the surfboard at a markedly early age, then reportedly felt a strong pull to explore other countries, lifestyles, and patterns of thought. She left home at age 16 and spent years wandering throughout Europe and Asia, living itinerantly in the towns and villages that she traversed, and even reportedly passed herself off as a man for a time during her residence in an Indian village -- an experience that more than prepped her for her groundbreaking role as the transsexual Max (née Moira) starting in the third season of Showtime's lesbian drama series The L Word (2007). Though head-turning, the part scarcely represented an on-camera debut for Sea, for by that time, she had already tackled daunting material with a supporting role in John Cameron Mitchell's hardcore seriocomedy Shortbus (2006), and had completed work on her second major feature outing, Itty Bitty Titty Committee -- in which she played one of several militant lesbian graffiti artists.