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About the Author

Mona Lee was born in Germany, and came to the US with her German mother and military dad. She's a working actress whose 30 years of experience includes theatre, film, and television. While a student in the Theatre Department of the University of Texas at Austin, she was awarded a full scholarship to the Juilliard School under the tutelage of John Houseman.

Her extensive stage work includes appearances in The Prodigious Snob at Lincoln Center; as Guest Artist for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and a tour of The Second Time Around, starring Pat O'Brien. She performed Marigolds; Crimes of the Heart; and many other stage performances in California, New York, and Texas.

Mona's been cast in over 50 films and TV movies. She most recently filmed a role in Richard Linklater's, A Scanner Darkly, in a scene opposite Keanu Reeves. Lee has done four projects with Linklater who also has taken Mona's acting classes. You can see her as "Mitch's ear-pulling mom" in Dazed and Confused, and in his award winning animated feature, Waking Life. Her first "Mom" role was co-starring as the mother of star, Christian Slater, in The Legend of Billie Jean.

This summer she worked in the cast of Molding Clay, a coming of age story in which she co-starred with Barry Corbin and William Katt. Mona can be seen in many co-starring and supporting roles like the 20th Century Fox film, Hope Floats, directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Sandra Bullock. She's appeared in co-starring roles in the TV mini-series, True Women, and in the television drama, Tornado Alley.

An actress, a screenwriter, and an acting coach, Mona also finds time to author The BIZ. A proud member of Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA, she is active in her unions serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Houston Council of SAG.

Mona is a passionate gardener. She's often lured back into the garden for another look at her rich native and tropical flora. Coming from a military family, Mona moved around the world. "I loved when we were stationed in Hawaii. That's what aroused my inner gardener. I relax looking at plants and flowers. I feel very comfortable in Texas, too. I love the hill country and hiking at Enchanted Rock and having German breakfast in Fredericksburg. I love the diversity of cultures in Texas, especially the Mexican culture and people."